By Patrick Yost
Editor

    Two men were arrested soon after they allegedly robbed a Rutledge convenience store last Saturday.
    Quadarrius Jamar Martin, 18, Chamblee, and Antwion Durrell Strickland, 19, Decatur, are both incarcerated at the Morgan County Detention Center awaiting a bond hearing after both were arrested and charged with armed robbery.
    According to Morgan County Sheriff’s Office reports, both men allegedly entered the Golden Pond Convenience Store, Newborn Road, at approximately 1 p.m. Reports state that one man pointed a pistol at the clerk while another man jumped over the counter and shoved the clerk into a corner. The suspect with the pistol demanded money, reports state, and pulled the hammer back on the pistol.
    The pair fled the store after taking an undisclosed amount of money, lottery tickets, the clerk’s cell phone and a religious item. They fled south on Newborn Road in a red Chevy Cobalt and then proceeded west on Interstate 20.
    Moments after authorities put a look–out on the Colbalt, a motorist called Newton County authorities and reported that a car matching the Colbalt’s description was driving erratically on Interstate 20.
    Morgan County Sheriff Robert Markley said the Colbalt then passed a Covington Police Department unit on Interstate 20 and both the Covington unit and a Newton County Sheriff’s Office unit gave chase. The Chevy crashed at the Almond Road exit in Newton County. Martin was arrested at the car.
    According to Capt. Kenny Stewart, Morgan County Sheriff’s Office investigator, Strickland fled the crash site on foot. After a brief search, Strickland was seen knocking on the door of a nearby resident. He was then secured after officers applied a taser device to Strickland.
    Markley said authorities have not located a pistol believed to be used in the robbery but did locate cash and lottery tickets near the vehicle. A letter addressed to the Golden Pond Convenience Store was also located near the car. That letter, Markley said, was an apology letter written to the clerk from a teen who robbed the store last year.
    The clerk’s cell phone was located at the on–ramp of Interstate 20 near the store. Markley said Strickland was currently on bond stemming from armed robbery charges in Dekalb County. Martin also faces traffic charges in Newton County, Markley said.