Two teens charged in armed robbery
By Steve Herring
Published in News on February 8, 2009 2:00 AM
MOUNT OLIVE -- Two teenagers were jailed Friday on charges of armed robbery after they allegedly held up The Shoe Show store in Mount Olive.
It took police all of 10 minutes to make the arrests.
Mostly because across the street, at the Southern Belle restaurant, about a half dozen Mount Olive and Wayne County lawmen were having lunch.
Juan Carlos Segura, 17, of 140 McCullen Lane, Dudley and his cousin, Mario Eduardo Segura, 19, of 103 Southpoint Drive, Mount Olive, have been released under $10,000 bond each.
Officers recovered an undetermined amount of money taken in the robbery. The money was found on the elder teen, whom officers said apparently brandished a 22-caliber pistol during the robbery.
No one was in the store at the time of the robbery other than two clerks, police said. No one was injured.
Mount Olive Chief of Police Ralph Schroeder and Major Brian Rhodes were having lunch at the Southern Belle Restaurant on N.C. 55 with Sheriff Carey Winders, Chief Deputy Ray Smith, Capt. Darryl Overton and Lt. Ray Brogden when the two youths robbed the Shoe Show store directly across the highway from the restaurant.
"They weren't looking because there was a police car sitting right across the road," Schroeder said. "Evidently they never looked. There were six of us and none of us got to finish lunch."
Schroeder said he received the call during lunch.
Schroeder and Rhodes headed west on N.C. 55 in an unmarked vehicle. Winders went north on U.S. 117. Brogden and Overton headed east on N.C. 55. Mount Olive police Sgt. C.J. Weaver was on U.S. 117 southbound.
As Schroeder and Rhodes rounded a curve near Suttontown Road, about seven miles west of town, the two noticed a car, a 1990 four-door Honda Accord, matching the description of the one used in the robbery.
When the suspects fled the scene, they turned off N.C. 55 onto U.S. 117 South then right onto West Main Street Extension following it back to N.C. 55 West, Rhodes said.
Both vehicles turned onto Suttontown Road. After verifying the description and license tag, a "felony" stop of the vehicle was made.
"At that point, we were radioing everybody letting them know where we were," Schroeder said.
"A felony stop is when you take the suspects out of a vehicle at gunpoint and use the PA system to tell them to get out of the vehicle with their hands in sight and walk back toward you," Rhodes said.
"Brian was using the PA and I took them out at gunpoint," Schroeder said. "We took them out one at a time and got them handcuffed and secured on the ground. They did not resist. I think they were scared."
The weapon used in the crime was not in the car, but was later recovered by Weaver who found it laying beside the road
Schroeder said the suspects had thrown the gun out the weapon before being captured. The gun was shattered on impact, he said.
"I'd like to thank Sheriff Carey Winders, Ray Smith, Darryl Overton and Ray Brogden for their assistance," Schroeder said. "Also, Officer Chris Thigpen who was near the scene and started gathering the information for us. It was a fast response time with C.J. getting there. Every avenue they had to go we had it covered. It was lucky, lot of times we get lucky and this was a lucky thing."