Criminal counts piling up

By Barry Porterfield
Pauls Valley Daily Democrat

October 01, 2008 04:57 pm

— The criminal charges continue to pile up against a Wynnewood man who only days ago had a robbery related allegation dismissed that prosecutors plan to bring back soon.
This newest round of filings against Bobby Ruiz, 27, accuses him of making a robbery attempt at a Pauls Valley store in the summer of 2007, in addition to a trio of more recent forgery counts related to checks passed at a Wynnewood store.
Just last week Ruiz was formally charged with taking a vehicle without permission from a Wynnewood resident.
Only days before that a charge was for now dropped that had accused Ruiz of assaulting a PV clerk during a robbery attempt last fall.
Despite the fact that charge has been dismissed an official in the Garvin County District Attorney’s office announced plans to later refile the formal allegation.
Ruiz, already in jail on a $30,000 bond set in the car theft case, received three felony counts of second-degree forgery filed Tuesday in Garvin County District Court.
Those charges accuse Ruiz of forging three checks on Sept. 17-18 at David’s Food Center in Wynnewood, located in the 1300 block of East Robert S. Kerr.
A court affidavit shows the checks had been stolen from a truck as Ruiz was identified from a photo line-up.
Last Friday Ruiz was handed a charge of second-degree robbery by force and fear and given a $25,000 after prosecutors requested the total be set at $50,000.
The charge accuses him of using violence to attempt a robbery on June 30, 2007 at a PV convenience store in the 800 block of South Walnut.
A clerk told authorities a male subject was playing a quarter game when he approached the employee with a request for change. The employee claims as he opened the cash register drawer the subject swung at him. The subject then left the store traveling on foot.
Minutes later an officer patrolling near Walnut and Lee streets spotted a subject matching the given description as he walked in a pasture next to Rush Creek.
After the subject was stopped in the nearby Burr Center parking lot he admitted to being at the store where the incident took place.
However, the subject quickly denied any wrongdoing as he claimed the clerk behind the counter started to “flip out” when he asked for another quarter to continue playing the store’s game.
Ruiz was formally accused of assaulting a clerk during a November robbery at the E-Z Mart convenience store in Pauls Valley, located in the 800 block of East Grant.
The subject committing the crime fled with scene with $37 from the cash register.
That charge was dismissed at the request of prosecutors because the state is working to get new information in the robbery case. The charge is expected to be refiled in the near future.