Messenger Publisher

Three teenagers were charged with the Feb. 19 armed robbery of the Wagon Wheel store in the Shellhorn Community.

Arsenio Kelly, 17, of Goshen, and Andre Crenshaw, 17, also of Goshen, were being held Tuesday in the Pike County Jail. Bond on each suspect was set at $50,000.

A 15-year-old male from the Shady Grove community was being held in the juvenile detention facility in Dothan, said Pike County Sheriff Russell Thomas.

"This took six days of us basically beating the bushes and trying to find sources," Thomas said. "The end result is we solved it with three confessions and three arrests."

The robbery occurred at about 6 p.m. on Feb. 19, when two young males brandishing handguns ran into the Wagon Wheel store on County Road 1, Thomas said. "One suspect approached the male clerk and the second suspect went over to a female customer and held her at gunpoint. The first suspect demanded money from the store clerk, who gave them an undisclosed amount of cash," he said. "Then the two suspects fled on foot and were picked up."

Thomas said both weapons used in the robbery have been recovered.

The sheriff also said deputies began the investigation with little information. "We continued to talk to people and followed up what small leads we had," he said. "It was just good, thorough, intense investigation" on the part of Deputies Rob Bradbury and Frank Wheeler, who assisted Thomas in working the case.

"This is something we worked continuously for three days and I’m glad we brought it to a close," he said.

The Wagon Wheel robbery is the eighth armed robbery to occur within the last six months in Pike County. Arrests have been made in seven of those cases, Thomas said.