Suspect accused of striking gas station clerk with beer can will go to grand jury

Latray Frazier, 22, of Middletown, was charged with robbery and his case was bound over to the Butler County Grand Jury by Middletown Municipal Court Judge James Sherron.

Latray Frazier, 22, of Middletown, was charged with robbery and his case was bound over to the Butler County Grand Jury by Middletown Municipal Court Judge James Sherron.

The case involving a man who allegedly stole one can of beer, then beat up the store clerk with the can, was bound over to a Butler County grand jury.

Latray Frazier, 22, of Middletown, had his preliminary hearing Wednesday afternoon before Judge James Sherron in Middletown Municipal Court. Frazier pleaded not guilty to the felony robbery charge.

Jade Bembry, 22, of Middletown, had her complicity to robbery charge reduced to petty theft, a misdemeanor. Her 90-day sentence was suspended and she was told to stay out of the Shell gas station and have no contact with the clerk.

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Frazier, 22, was charged with robbery, and his girlfriend, Bembry, was charged with complicity to robbery after the alleged incident Feb. 26 at the Shell gas station, 2411 N. Verity Parkway, according to police reports.

A clerk in the store told police that two people entered the store around 11 p.m., and when Bembry came to the register, she didn’t have enough money to pay for the items.

While in her car getting more money, she threw two items into the parking lot, and when she returned to the store, the clerk told her the lot was not a Dumpster.

That’s when Frazier and the clerk exchanged words, the report said.

Frazier then walked to the beer cooler, grabbed a 24-ounce Milwaukee Best Ice and left the store without paying, the clerk told police. The clerk told Frazier he needed to return the beer, the report said.

When the clerk walked outside, Frazier allegedly threw the beer can and hit the clerk in his nose. Police said the clerk’s nose was bloody and probably broken. He was transported to Atrium Medical Center for treatment.

The two suspects left the scene in a vehicle, described as a black 2003 Nissan. The clerk told police he believed Bembry worked at Taco Bell on Verity Parkway.

While police were sitting in their vehicle near Taco Bell, a vehicle matching that description pulled into the lot. Police arrested Bembry and then arrested Frazier at a residence in the 2400 block of Browning Street.

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