McDonald’s robbed at gunpoint
Published 10:19 pm Monday, August 21, 2017
The Selma Police Department is investigating an armed robbery and two thefts from businesses over the weekend.
McDonald’s was robbed at gunpoint Friday afternoon just before 4 p.m. According to an incident report, an unknown suspect was sitting inside the business for several minutes before coming behind the counter and demanding money with a handgun.
A witness told officers a black male suspect pulled a firearm on a worker and told her to open the register “before I shoot you in the side.”
McDonald’s employees inside the restaurant at the time of the robbery said the suspect touched the screen on the cash register, as well as the cash tray. Workers told officers the robber got away with $167 worth of cash. They also stated he was wearing blue And1 shorts and a white shirt. No arrest has been made in that case.
Saturday, Selma police responded to a theft call at the Sunoco gas station on the 3700 block of U.S. Highway 80 West around 3 p.m.
The store clerk told the responding officer an unknown black male entered the store to buy something, and when the clerk opened the cash register, the suspect reached over and grabbed an unknown amount of money and left the property driving a red sports utility vehicle.
A similar incident happened Sunday at the Marathon gas station on the 200 block of Medical Center drive around 6:45 p.m.
The clerk told police an unknown male subject entered the store and took money from the cash register when he opened it.
The victim said he chased the driver, but he got into a red or burgundy sports utility vehicle and took off.
An officer later made contact with the suspect’s vehicle at the Raceway gas station on Highland Avenue. The suspect was not in the vehicle, but the officer was told the suspect was at the Traveler’s Inn.
When the officer made contact with the suspect and interviewed him, he was identified at 37-year-old Joseph Dillard, who has a Sardis address. The officer then discovered Dillard was wanted by the Indiana Department of Corrections as a fugitive. Dillard was booked into the Dallas County Jail without bond.
According to Selma police, Dillard’s theft charges are pending.
The Times-Journal reached out to the Indiana Department of Corrections (IDOC) Monday afternoon, but phone calls and emails were not immediately returned.
According to department’s inmate search site, a Joseph Dillard with date of birth of Aug. 15, 1980, is listed as escaped. The incident report from the Selma Police Department has the same date of birth for Dillard.
IDOC records indicate Dillard was supposed to be serving a two-year 2015 sentence for burglary.