Suspects in Prime Sole Robbery Arrested; Wanted in Several States for Similar Offenses

(EFFINGHAM COUNTY STATE'S ATTORNEY BRYAN KIBLER LISTENS AS EFFNGHAM CITY POLICE CHIEF JEFF FUESTING SHARES ABOUT THE ARRESTS)

The two men believed to have robbed Prime Sole in Effingham earlier this month have been arrested and are in custody.

Effingham Police Chief Jeff Fuesting and Effingham County State's Attorney Bryan Kibler participated in a press conference at City Hall Thursday afternoon to announce the arrests of 19-year-old Allan J. McCray and 23-year-old Victor M. Linton, both of Omaha, Nebraska. Each has been charged with Class X felony counts of armed violence and Class X felony counts of armed robbery. Both counts involve mandatory prison sentences in the event of a conviction of 6 to 30 years. Additionally, Kibler explained the armed robbery counts carry an additional 20-year prison term besides the sentence they receive from the judge.

McCray and Linton were also each charged with a Class 1 felony count of aggravated discharge of a firearm, punishable by up to 4 to 15 years in prison, and each was charged with a Class 2 felony count of burglary, punishable by up to 3 to 7 years in prison.

The incident occurred just after 1:30pm on April 19 when the men took merchandise from Prime Sole. A store employee, Dustin Royer, followed the pair outside the store and questioned their actions. At that point, one of the suspects, believed to be McCray, fired one shot at the store building. The two then left the scene with the stolen merchandise in a vehicle bearing Nebraska license plates. Initially, it was thought the vehicle was bearing Kansas plates, but they were Nebraska plates.

Chief Fuesting said that Effingham police were notified late Wednesday night that McCray and Linton had been arrested Friday in Missouri for a similar incident that happened early Friday morning. They are being held in Lafayette County, Missouri, in the western part of the state. Bond has been set there at $500,000 for each suspect. Meanwhile, the Effingham County charges were filed against the pair Thursday morning with an arrest warrant of $750,000 against each suspect.

The pair is suspected in incidents in Nebraska and Indiana as well as in Illinois and Missouri. There was a person wounded by a gunshot during an incident in Missouri. The person is expected to recover. 

Both Fuesting and Kibler were highly complimentary of the work by Effingham city and county law enforcement in handling the case. Fuesting said he is "proud of the effort and the partnering together" by city and county agencies as well as help received from state police. Kibler said, "The joint work between city and county was magnificent."

Kibler said it's likely Missouri will prosecute its case first, so it's unclear when the case will come back to Effingham County.