Magruder Pharmacy suspect pleads guilty to aggravated robbery

A Clyde man accused of using a pistol to rob the Magruder Hospital Pharmacy pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated robbery and will be sentenced July 26.

Joshua Trapp, 35, faces up to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to the first-degree felony charge.

In addition to his aggravated robbery charges, Trapp was indicted by an Ottawa County grand jury on two felony counts of theft of drugs, two felony counts of tampering with evidence, and one felony count of inducing panic. Those charges were dismissed as part of his plea, according to Ottawa County Court records.

Also charged in the robbery is Clark H. Sams, 46, of Oak Harbor, who is charged with three felony counts of complicity to commit theft, two felony counts of inducing panic and one felony count of inducing panic.

Sams is due in Ottawa County Common Pleas Court at 10 a.m. Wednesday for a final pretrial hearing.

A jury trial in Sams' case is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. June 19.

Trapp is alleged by Port Clinton Police to have entered the Magruder Hospital Pharmacy wearing head-to-toe camouflage and pointing a semi-automatic pistol at employees while demanding pills.

The suspect fled with the pharmacy with hundreds of pills inside a camouflage backpack, causing the hospital and nearby schools to go on lockdown.

A manhunt began, as police began piecing together clues in searching for a man considered armed and dangerous.

Within 48 hours, witnesses helped investigators zero in two lead suspects, Trapp and Sams, who were then arrested.

As the story broke across various media outlets, many witnesses, including a FedEx driver who was in the area at the time of the robbery, were able to assist law enforcement with their investigation.

The FedEx driver had just completed a delivery at the hospital at around 1:18 p.m.  on Feb. 6, minutes before the robbery was reported and police rushed to the scene.

The driver reported to police that he had seen a person wearing all camouflage with a backpack running north, away from the pharmacy along Short Street, before eventually getting in the passenger side of a white van near East Fifth Street, about a block away.

Another witness who resides near the corner of Short and East Fifth reported seeing the same thing. The delivery truck, however, had a dash camera and recorded what transpired after the robbery.

What the witnesses reported to police had been captured on the video, showing a man dressed entirely in camouflage fleeing the pharmacy and getting into a white van.

Police received a tip from a confidential informant that a man named “Clark” is known to sell Oxymorphone pills, the same variety of opiate demanded by the robber, and that Clark drives a white van.

The informant also reported that Clark lived on Mud Creek Road. Police then spotted a white van, a 2003 Dodge, at a residence in the 2200 block of South Mud Creek Road in Oak Harbor.

The vehicle was registered to the wife of Clark H. Sams, a man who matched the description given by witnesses as the driver of the van who gave a ride to the man in camouflage.

Agents from the Sandusky and Ottawa County Drug Task Forces, along with an officer from the Port Clinton Police Department, were meanwhile maintaining surveillance of the van.

According to police reports, it did not take long for the robbery suspects to begin dealing the recently stolen pills.

Shortly before 12:30 p.m. on Feb. 8, Sams left his residence driving the white van with another man, later identified as Trapp.

After the van made numerous stops in Sandusky County, it began heading back on Ohio 19 toward Ottawa County at around 1:45 p.m. One minute prior, a search warrant had been signed by Ottawa County Common Pleas Court Judge Bruce Winters.

As the van turned onto Hetrick Road from Bolsinger Road, authorities stopped it just before 2 p.m. and both Sams and Trapp were taken into custody.

While being interviewed by police, Sams allegedly admitted to his and Trapp’s involvement in the robbery.

Published by https://www.portclintonnewsherald.com

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