2 Findlay men arrested in robbery of Tiffin store

11/16/2005

TIFFIN Two Findlay men were arrested yesterday and charged with robbing a Kroger store in Tiffin earlier in the day.

Joseph H. Lewis, 28, Findlay was charged with robbery and his companion, Neely Phillips, 25, of Findlay was charged with complicity to robbery and child endangering.

Three Kroger employees chased a man who stole cash from the West Market Street store outside, where he got into a pickup and fled, police said.

The employees followed the truck, driven by another man, and called Fostoria police on a cell phone, reporting that the men were headed in their direction.

Fostoria and Tiffin police officers stopped the vehicle and arrested Mr. Phillips. The passenger ran from the pickup. Police later arrested Mr. Lewis in Findlay.

Fostoria police said both men admitted involvement in earlier robberies at a Circle K convenience store and a Kmart, both in Fostoria.

The child-endangering charge against Mr. Phillips was filed because his 23-month-old son was in the pickup during and after the robbery in Tiffin.