Suspects in failed robbery captured

Four men have been charged in connection with a bungled armed robbery at a local Hispanic grocery store after being arrested on U.S. 21 near the Wilkes County line.

The Alleghany County Sheriff's Department and Sparta Police Department responded to the attempted armed robbery at La Colmena on Cheek Street on May 21 at 1 p.m.

Charged with attempted armed robbery with a dangerous weapon were 20-year-old Luis Eduardo Cardona Parra of Hartness Road in Statesville; 18-year-old Manuel Rosa Maysonet of Buena Vista Avenue in Statesville; Jose Anibal Sepulveda-Velasquez of Jonathan Lane in Statesville; and 20-year-old Jhonattan Lopez Maya of South Center Street in Statesville. The men are charged with attempting to steal $1,000 in cash from the store, utilizing the threatening use of a firearm, a .357 caliber Colt revolver.

Det. Lt. Wayne Crouse, who investigated the robbery, said the store owner, Jaime Tora Micco, refused to give the men the money. Crouse said that one of the men entered the store with the pistol, while two men waited outside the door. The fourth man remained in the vehicle at the wheel.

"At some point and time while the robbery attempt was going on, the store owner ran into the robber and knocked him out the door," said Crouse. "When the owner came outside the store, the man with the pistol and the other two men then all got into the car and left."

Micco was not armed, Crouse noted.

Crouse said that he could not release any other details on the attempted armed robbery due to the ongoing investigation. The incident was reported in progress by an employee of a neighboring business, who noticed men in ski masks with a weapon outside the shop.

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