Toledo ex-con sought in string of robberies

Man also wanted in felonious assault

9/11/2012

A Toledo man who spent at least 10 years in prison stemming from two robbery convictions is wanted again for a string of robberies.

Kevin Barnhill, 43, of 914 Division St. is charged with four counts of robbery and one count of felonious assault.

Toledo police say Keith Foulk suffered a human bite last week after he refused to drive a man to Michigan. The two struggled Wednesday over the keys for Mr. Foulk's sport utility vehicle. After the man bit Mr. Foulk, he took the keys and fled in the SUV, which was recovered, police said.

The second incident was reported on Friday. Police said a man went into Universal Mini Mart, 1111 Starr Ave. in East Toledo, and asked the clerk for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man punched the clerk in the face and fled with about $600.

The next day, two East Toledo stores -- Char's Mart, 762 Oak St., and East Side Mini Mart, 1110 East Broadway -- were robbed. In each instance, a man was in the midst of a transaction in the store when he punched a clerk and stole money.

About $100 was taken from Char's and an unknown amount from East Side Mini Mart.

"We want to get him caught as soon as we can," Toledo police Sgt. Joe Heffernan said. "What he does is, he acts like he's going to buy something and the guy punches the button to open the register and he just goes over -- he's 6 [feet], 4 [inches] -- so he's very tall, and he punches the person who, obviously, then takes a step back, and he takes his big, long arms and grabs some cash and goes."

Barnhill was sentenced in 1999 to six years in prison on multiple robbery convictions. He was released in November, 2005, and the next month, police issued an arrest warrant naming him as a robbery suspect.

Barnhill pleaded guilty in August, 2006, to three counts of robbery and was sentenced to four years for each count, to run concurrently.

Police describe the suspect as black, about 6 feet, 4 inches tall and weighing 220 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information about the cases is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 419-255-1111.