Crew charged in series of taxi, store robberies
Two women and a man are facing federal charges after police say they committed a string of taxicab and gas station armed robberies in August, including one in which a store attendant was shot in the head.
Nickie M. Foster, 22, Marquel L. Johnson, 24, and Martell D. Ford, 27, all of Milwaukee, face 15 counts in a federal indictment returned Tuesday. According to court records: Three times in the same day, Aug. 22, Foster called for a cab using the name “Scooby.” Twice, she took a short ride before pulling a silver .22-caliber handgun and demanding money and other valuables from the driver. The third time, she demanded the money as soon she got in the cab, and Ford appeared at the cab driver’s door to search him for more valuables.
The first two cab drivers told police they weren’t sure if their robbers were male or female.
All the drivers said that after the robberies, the subject fled in an older tan Pontiac.
But while exiting the cab after the first robbery, Foster dropped her wallet with her ID and several debit cards in other people’s names.
By 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 22, Johnson tried to rob a man as he walked up to a Petro Mart at 2341 S. Chase Ave. She showed the gun and demanded money. When the man said he didn’t have any, Johnson pulled the trigger twice but the gun didn’t fire. The man tried to wrestle the gun away, when Ford ran up from the Pontiac.
The victim pushed Johnson away and fled into the store where the attendant locked the door.
About three hours later, Johnson called for a cab using the name “Unique.” At the destination near North 6th and West Chamber streets, Johnson put the gun to the driver’s head and demanded his wallet and cellphone and threatened to kill him.
About an hour after that, at 2:30 a.m. Aug. 23, Johnson and Foster returned to the same Petro Mart where the customer thwarted a robbery attempt earlier in the evening.
Foster shot the clerk in the head and took money from the cash register. The clerk survived with “significant cognitive impairment.”
About 6 p.m. that day, police found the Pontiac, with driver’s licenses of the robbed cab drivers inside, plus cards in Johnson’s name. That led police to find photos of her, including one on Facebook of her holding what appears to be the same gun used in the robberies. They also found a post on her page, from shortly after the Petro Mart robbery, of someone holding a large wad of cash.
Two days later, about 3:45 a.m. Aug. 25, Ford and Johnson parked a dark-colored Chevrolet Malibu on West Buffalo Street and walked up to a BP Welcome Mart at 350 N. Plankinton Ave.
According to the complaint, Ford propped open the entry door while Johnson approached the cashier brandishing a silver handgun. The cashier, who was behind bullet-proof glass, refused to give cash and activated a door lock after Ford moved away from the door, leaving Johnson locked inside the store. Surveillance footage shows Johnson wearing the same Nike flip-flops as those worn in the Petro Mart robbery.
Johnson eventually found another exit door and fled.
Later in the day, officers spotted the blue Chevrolet Malibu and Johnson fled at high speed, striking two bystander vehicles before it crashed. Johnson was taken into custody at a medical facility for treatment of injuries suffered in the crash.
Officers found the .22 caliber handgun seen in her Facebook post and seen during the robberies.
The Malibu was identified as a vehicle stolen on Aug. 20 from O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. The day before, Johnson’s Facebook records show a post that reads: “In the city Chicago bound.”