Suspect accused of a rare one-day robbery spree will have case go to grand jury

Andre Pruden.

Andre Pruden.

A Middletown man who was arrested after he allegedly committed three armed robberies on the same day was bound over to a Butler County grand jury.

Andre Pruden, 25, of Yankee Road, appeared for a preliminary hearing Feb. 23 in Middletown Municipal Court on three counts of aggravated robbery, all first-degree felonies, one count of having weapons under disability, a third-degree felony, one count of having a concealed weapon, a fourth-degree felony and one count of drug abuse/cocaine, a fifth-degree felony. He entered not guilty pleas on all charges. Pruden is being held in the Butler County Jail under an $85,000 bond.

Police alleged Pruden robbed a woman at gunpoint about 7 p.m. Feb. 10 in the 700 block of Vancouver Street.

Less than an hour later, in the 1800 block of Casper Street, two people had just arrived home when Pruden allegedly came to a stop in his pickup truck next to their vehicle. Police said Pruden, who was wearing a mask, got out of his truck and followed the people into their front yard, where he pointed a gun at them and demanded money.

Later in the evening, another robbery was reported just before 9 p.m. in the 300 block of Stanley Street where Pruden allegedly used a handgun to rob a woman who had gone out to her car. She provided police with a partial license plate number.

Police located the truck in the 2000 block of Central Avenue and made the stop on North Avenue where the driver was arrested and taken into custody.

“By the third robbery, officers already had a good idea of his description, truck and gun and were looking for him,” said Police Maj. Scott Reeve. “All of the robberies were random. It’s rare for a guy to do three robberies in a row on the same day.”

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