INDIANAPOLIS — A 45-year-old man was recently convicted after he reportedly robbed a grocery store on the east side of Indianapolis in May.
According to a news release from the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office, 45-year-old Joseph Johnson was convicted of one count of armed robbery, a Level 3 felony, and one count of robbery, a Level 5 felony, after a two-day jury trial.
On May 17, a man, later identified is Johnson, went into a grocery store in the 2800 of E Michigan Road, according to Johnson’s affidavit of probable cause. An employee at the store told police that Johnson reportedly began asking for Advil. After the employee went to grab the medicine, Johnson reportedly showed the employee the handle of a black handgun that was in the pocket of his shorts, demanding the cash from the register.
Johnson reportedly took around $500, as well as the Advil, from the grocery store. The affidavit said that Johnson left the scene in a Kia with another man on the passenger side.
Later that day, detectives with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department used the store’s surveillance system to look at the reported incident, the affidavit read.
The footage helped officers identify the vehicle Johnson was driving. By using a partial license plate, IMPD officers tracked down the Kia, which was reported stolen earlier that month in Lawrence.
The next day, IMPD officers conducted a stop on a Kia matching the description of the car linked to the robbery on the near east side of Indianapolis. According to the affidavit, the driver, who officers later identified as Johnson, exited the car and began to run from the officers “with a black handgun in his right hand.”
After Johnson ran through multiple yards and jumped over a fence, he was apprehended by IMPD. The gun that Johnson was reportedly carrying, which Johnson reportedly discarded during the chase, was a “CO2 pellet/BB gun.” Officials with the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office said that the BB gun is believed to have been the one used in the robbery.
According to the release, a sentencing hearing for Johnson is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Dec. 5.
