Robbery search conducted in Mount Vernon

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The Mitchell Police Division searched the apartment of a Mount Vernon man for evidence related to an armed robbery at a Mitchell convenience store.

Court documents filed Tuesday pursuant to a search warrant executed Nov. 28 at the residence of Joshua Samuel Johnson, 25, show police looked for evidence related to the Nov. 24 armed robbery at Dakota Sunset Liquor. Police looked for stolen money, weapons or clothing that may have been used in the robbery, receipts for items that may have been purchased with stolen money and any photos or digital images showing Johnson or others wearing clothing that may have been used in the robbery.

An inventory of the search lists only a marijuana pipe and an empty pill bottle.

While a search-warrant affidavit — a document provided to a judge by law enforcement to give probable cause to justify the warrant — is usually made public, an order sealing the affidavit was filed with other court documents. The search warrant was prepared by Mitchell Police Investigator Dean Knippling and granted by Magistrate Judge Patrick Kiner.

Mitchell Police Detective Lt. Don Everson declined to comment because the case remains an ongoing investigation.

The robbery occurred shortly before midnight Nov. 24 when a man armed with a gun entered through the front door of the convenience store, threatened the clerk with the gun and demanded money. The robber made off with more than $1,000 in cash.

Johnson was arrested Nov. 27 along with Sara Ann Claggett, 32, after police allegedly found traces of methamphetamine on a pipe inside their apartment, which is located in a basement at 104 South Earl St. in Mount Vernon.

Johnson remains in custody at the Davison County Jail with a $5,000 cash bond set for the drug charges, but is also being held without bond because of an outstanding out-of-state warrant. No charges related to the robbery appear to have been filed against Johnson.

Additional drug-related charges were filed against Claggett on Dec. 6 after a small amount of marijuana and a pipe with marijuana residue were allegedly found in her vehicle outside the Davison County Public Safety Center.

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