Convenience store robbery suspects in custody

A surveillance photo was circulated by State Police Wednesday in connection with an individual wanted for a holdup at the Convenient Food Mart in Lenoxville.

BY JEREMY G. BURTON

and DAVID SINGLETON

Times-Shamrock Writers

Two suspects are in custody for the gunpoint robberies of convenience stores early Wednesday in Susquehanna and Lackawanna  counties.

Russell Edward Kinney, 19, of Nicholson, was taken into custody by Old Forge police late Friday, hours after Dickson City police charged accomplice Rexford Hunt III, 23, of Dickson City, authorities said.

The men were arrested in connection with a string of armed robberies that netted the two suspects about $150 in cash.

Both men remained Monday in the Lackawanna County Prison, where they were held on $75,000 bail each on charges that included robbery and receiving stolen property.

Hunt is accused in at least two of the armed robberies, which took place between 1:50 and 3:48 a.m. The spree started in Lenox Twp., where a man wearing a ski mask entered the Convenient Food Mart on Route 374, brandished a gun and demanded money. About 40 minutes later, a similar scene unfolded at the Turkey Hill Minit Mart on Main Street in Old Forge. The last holdup was at the Turkey Hill on Main Street in Dickson City.

He admitted his involvement in all three robberies, which took place over a two-hour span, during an interview with investigators, according to arrest papers.

Kinney is charged with driving the getaway car – a Honda Civic – during the Old Forge and Dickson City holdups. As of midday Monday, he had not been charged by state police in connection with the Lenox Twp. robbery.

According to police, the suspects got away with $71 in the Dickson City robbery and approximately $80 in the Old Forge holdup. No money was taken in the Lenox Twp. robbery after the store clerk refused the gunman’s demand to hand over cash, state police said.