Police: GPS bracelet led to robbery suspect

KSDK – by Brandie Piper

WASHINGTON, Mo. – A man and a woman were taken into custody Thursday night and charged Friday after a Washington, Missouri video game store was robbed at gunpoint. Police say they were able to apprehend them quickly because the male has an ankle monitoring device equipped with GPS.

Chief Kenneth Hahn says around 2 p.m. Thursday a woman entered Game Depot in the 500 block of East 5th Street wearing a hat and covering her face. She looked around, and left the store. Police think she may have left because there was a customer inside the store. A few minutes later a man walked in and sold two video games to the store. No customers were in the store, and the man left.    

A few minutes later the woman returned, still covering her face, showed a handgun, and announced a robbery. Hahn says the store owner grabbed the suspect’s gun, and struggled with her. During the struggle, the owner grabbed his own gun, which was strapped to his body, and struck the woman in the head with his weapon.

The suspect dropped her gun, and her hat fell off showing her blonde hair. Hahn says the owner’s wife grabbed the suspect by her hair to keep her from running away, but she was able to break free, leaving her gun behind. The owner’s wife was left with a clump of the woman’s hair, which cut her fingers during the pulling.

Police say the woman ran behind the businesses and to a dark vehicle parked behind Twisted Fish Bar.

Officers responded to the scene and were able to identify the man who sold the video games prior to the robbery as 20-year-old Oscar Rivera. They suspected he was involved in the crime, and identified the female suspect as his girlfriend, 21-year-old Ciera J. Ruengert. Hahn says both suspects are from New Haven, Mo.

Police say Rivera is under GPS ankle monitoring because of a previous robbery he is believed to have taken part in. When detectives inspected the data associated with his device, they determined he was in the area of the store at the time of the crime.

Around 8:15 p.m. investigators tracked Rivera’s ankle device to Interstate 44 at Highway 141, so officers waited at Highway 100, just within Washington’s city limits, to stop him as he headed back into town.

Rivera was pulled over at Highway 100 and Roy Drive driving a vehicle that matched the getaway vehicle from Game Depot. He and Ruengert were taken into custody. Their gun and Ruengert’s hat were recovered. Hahn says she had cuts on her head and dried blood in her hair. She was taken to an area hospital for treatment.

Police say both suspects confessed to the robbery and that their 1-year-old child was in the car during the robbery. Officers have contact DFS.

Both River and Ruengert are charged with first-degree robbery, armed criminal action, and endangering the welfare of a child. They are each held at the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department on $100,000 cash-only bonds.

http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/crime/2015/01/09/game-depot-robbery-gps-monitoring-piper/21493631/