Inmate charged with 2015 armed robbery

In the News

A former Northwest Missouri State University student from Independence currently serving a drug-related prison sentence with the state Department of Corrections has been charged with armed robbery and armed criminal action in connection with a convenience store holdup in Maryville on Nov. 10, 2015.

Maryville Public Safety investigator Ryan Glidden said Tuesday that Michael Eugene Sanders, 19, was recently charged in 4th District Circuit Court with the early morning robbery of the City Star service station and convenience shop located at the corner of South Main and Torrance streets.

According to online court records, Sanders was sentenced to four years in prison in November 2016 on a felony charge of distributing or delivering less than 5 grams of marijuana on or near a school campus. His arrest on that charge followed an investigation by the Northwest Missouri State University Police Department.

Glidden said a second investigation by Maryville Public Safety subsequently linked Sanders to the City Star robbery, with which he has now been formally charged.

A description of the suspect released by MPS following the holdup described the perpetrator as a

black male standing between 5 feet, 6 inches and 6 feet tall and wearing a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt with white or silver sides, dark sweat pants or wind pants and a white bandana over his face.

During the robbery, the suspect was said to have displayed a handgun, possibly a semiautomatic, after approaching the store on foot from the west.

The suspect then fled in the same direction with an undisclosed amount of cash from the register and a small amount of merchandise.