Market robbery suspects charged

Two men have been charged in the Nov. 9 armed robbery of a Hillyard convenience store.

One of them, 32-year-old Jomo Ken “Dominic” Martin, allegedly told a woman he committed the robbery to repay a former girlfriend from whom he allegedly stole several hundred dollars.

Martin was arrested last week in connection with the robbery of M&K Grocery at 4619 N. Market St. He and co-defendant Joshua Wayne Nash, 27 – who remains at large – are charged with first-degree robbery.

Descriptions of Martin and Nash resemble those of two gunmen who robbed the Advance Til Payday loan office at 3422 N. Division St. a day after M&K Grocery was robbed.

Court documents say Nash scooped about $200 from the M&K cash register and took several packs of cigarettes and some lottery scratch tickets after Martin threatened a female clerk with a pistol.

Police began looking for Martin when they got a tip from an informer who said someone named Dominic, who is missing a ring finger, had been bragging about committing the robbery.

Officers went to a home in the 2600 block of East Hoffman Avenue where Martin’s former girlfriend, Melissa VanSickle, and Maeceen Morgan identified Martin as one of the robbers.

The women said Martin told them hours after the robbery that he did it so he could repay the money he had taken from VanSickle.

A police affidavit says VanSickle told officers she videotaped a television broadcast of a surveillance video of the robbery and showed it to Teresa Wynn, who is the mother of Martin’s child. Both women agreed one of the men in the video was Martin, the affidavit states.

One of VanSickle’s neighbors, Jason Juliano, told police that Nash had been living with him when he came home on Nov. 9 and found Nash and “Dominic” exclaiming, “We did it, we did it.” Juliano said he made Nash leave when he explained that he and Dominic had robbed a store, according to court documents.

The confidential informer who fingered Martin last Wednesday provided information that led police to an apartment at 1317 N. Madelia.

Detective Mark Burbridge said in a search warrant affidavit that he went to the apartment with Officer Kyle Heuett and another officer. Heuett watched a window at the back of the apartment while Burbridge called the apartment telephone and asked for Dominic.

When Burbridge identified himself and said the apartment was surrounded, the person on the other end of the line uttered an expletive and dropped the phone, Burbridge stated. He said Heuett saw the call recipient drop the phone, pull a handgun out of his waistband and run.

Burbridge said he called back and got Richard G. Connelly, 37, who initially denied knowing Martin but eventually admitted that Martin was hiding in the apartment.

A resident of another apartment in the building told officers she saw Martin toss his gun into a hallway and climb into the attic, according to Burbridge.

Officers arrested Martin after evacuating the building.