Sheriff’s department finds Columbia armed robbery suspect

A Kansas City man was arrested over the weekend for two armed robberies in Columbia. Detectives at the Boone County Sheriff’s office identified James Anthony Fristoe Jr., 22, as a possible suspect in the Friday hold-ups at the Breaktime off Forum and the Phillips 66 near Providence and Broadway.

At first, Fristoe turned himself over to Holden police on Saturday, about thirty minutes west of Warrensburg. He was facing several outstanding warrants for being an out of state fugitive in Oklahoma and violating parole.

The Boone County Sheriff’s department turned over incriminating statements to Columbia police linking Fristoe to the crimes.

Officers later arrested Fristoe on two counts of first-degree robbery and armed criminal action, with a $300,000 bond.

Boone County deputies said a little more than an hour before the convenience store robberies, Fristoe reportedly tried robbing a man in a Boone County home.

“We were told that a man was assaulted by a subject that he had met online through a social media networking website,” Detective Tom O’Sullivan with the Boone County Sheriff’s Department said. “And the man had assaulted him and cut him a couple of times, and then took off in his vehicle.”

The victim told deputies he met Fristoe online about a month before. Fristoe was drinking with him at his apartment, when he went into the kitchen and grabbed a knife. The victim said Fristoe then punched him and cut him several times on the forehead. Fristoe reportedly tried tying the victim up with TV cables, and demanded money. When the victim did not have any cash on hand, he said Fristoe threw his pet dog against the wall and threatened to kill it.

“The victim tried to get away and managed to get away to a neighbor’s house to call 911,” O’Sullivan said. “And while he was at the neighbor’s house, he saw his vehicle being driven from the area.”

According to court documents, police found Fristoe on surveillance video with the victim’s stolen car from both convenience stores later that morning.

Fristoe was on probation and parole for a robbery in Independence in 2009. The Owasso Police Department in Oklahoma had also issued a warrant for Fristoe’s arrest for a robbery as well.