4/20/2009

Three of the six teenagers arrested in connection with a robbery last week at Sonic were employees of the restaurant, according to Salina police. Three suspects are accused of accosting Mike Cunningham, a Sonic manager, in the parking lot after he had secured the restaurant at 2615 Market Place at about 11:30 p.m. Thursday. They are: Colton W. Dale, 19, 1705 Beach; Timothy A. Dale, 17, 751 Osage; and Dylan J. Focks, 17, Bennington. Focks was a Sonic employee, said Salina Deputy Police Chief Carson Mansfield. After Cunningham got into his pickup, three men — one with a gun — forced him out and made him lie on the ground, Cunningham said. One man sat on top of him and held a gun to his head while the others got into the truck and took a Sonic bank bag containing an undisclosed amount of cash, he said. Mansfield said police believe a compressed-air gun, which shoots spherical non-metallic pellets and is designed to closely resemble a real firearm, was used by the robbers. Three additional people believed to have played a part in the robbery were arrested, Mansfield said. They were: * Clayton B. Murrison, 19, 507 W. Prescott, a Sonic employee who is accused of jumping the fence behind the restaurant and using a sharp object to make an unsuccessful attempt at cutting the tires on Cunningham’s pickup; * Jessica A. Grace, 19, 930 N. Eighth, a Sonic employee who is accused of driving the robbers to and from the area of the restaurant; * Ciara D. Bolte, 16, 602 Gypsum, who is accused of aiding a person charged as a felon for concealing clothing believed to have been worn during the robbery, which police have since recovered. Mansfield said police believe Bolte was in the car but unaware of what was taking place. When she found out after the fact, she is alleged to have concealed clothing evidence, Mansfield said.