Allegheny County robbery spree suspect arrested in Indiana

An Idaho man is accused in a string of armed robberies in Allegheny County and eastern Ohio, authorities said Tuesday.

Miambo Maombi, 21, was arrested June 16 in Hendricks County, Ind., after police say he ran away from a traffic stop. Allegheny County Police said they believe Maombi could be linked to at least four robberies across the county earlier this month.

County police responded just after 3 a.m. June 9 to an armed robbery at a 7-Eleven in Castle Shannon, said Inspector Michael Peairs. Detectives said a man wearing all black clothing and a ski mask walked in with a gun and ordered the clerk and customers to get on the floor. He took off with money from the register and customers’ wallets, police said.

Detectives discovered other municipal police departments were investigating similar robberies, including one at another 7-Eleven about an hour earlier and seven miles away in South Fayette, Peairs said.

Other robberies believed to be connected to Maombi include ones at a Robinson Domino’s Pizza on June 7 and at a West View Domino’s on June 6, police said.

Police said two similar robberies were committed June 13 at a Domino’s Pizza in Niles, Ohio, which is about 80 miles from Pittsburgh. The same day, there also was a robbery at a Circle K in neighboring Hubbard, Ohio.

Maombi remains in jail in Indiana, where he is charged with failing to use his turn signal and resisting arrest.

Peairs said his department is working with other agencies, including the FBI’s Youngstown satellite office, to determine how to proceed with local charges.

Police in Ohio told WKBN27 they suspected from the start the two robberies might be related.

“Outfit was the same, description of the handgun was the same, even instructions that he gave people who were in the store during the robbery were the same,” Niles Police Capt. John Marshall told the TV station.

Hubbard Police Det. Sgt. Michael Banic said it was an attentive officer nearly 400 miles away in neighboring Indiana. He called it “good, old-fashioned police work.”

Marshall told WKBN that Maombi had identification cards on him that belonged to victims from the Niles Domino’s, as well as other ID cards belonging to victims from Pennsylvania.