Amanda Hornsby
(Woodford County Detention Center photo)
By Scott White
Woodford Sun staff
Report for America corps member
On July 31, the Versailles Police Department (VPD) arrested 19-year-old Amanda Hornsby of Lexington and detained a juvenile suspect in connection with two recent armed robberies in Woodford County.
The first was an armed robbery of a Speedway gas station located in Versailles that occurred during the early morning hours of July 15. In that incident, according to arrest records, a masked individual dressed in a black hoodie entered the store and demanded money. The store clerk turned over an unspecified amount of cash. The suspect then fled from the store with an accomplice in a dark colored SUV that was identified through the use of one of the police department’s FLOCK cameras.
The second incident was an armed robbery of a Shell gas station located in Midway that occurred during the early morning hours of July 26. In that incident, two masked suspects dressed in black hoodies entered the store, pointed a handgun at the store clerk and forced him to remove money from the register. The suspects then fled the scene in the same dark colored SUV used during the previous robbery, which was confirmed through another one of the department’s FLOCK cameras.
Based on the results of the investigation, VPD detectives obtained a complaint and warrant charging Hornsby with Robbery 1st and Complicity to Commit Robbery 1st. A juvenile pickup order was issued for the juvenile suspect on the same offenses.
Working with Lexington police officers, the VPD detectives arrested Hornsby and took the juvenile into custody at a residence in Lexington.
Simultaneously, multiple search warrants were served in Lexington that resulted in the recovery of evidence. The investigation is ongoing to determine if the suspects are responsible for other offenses in surrounding jurisdictions. VPD Chief Rob Young said that anyone having information is encouraged to contact VPS at (859) 873-3126.
“This case highlights the VPD’s commitment to ensuring public safety,” Young told the Sun in an email. “The hard work of the department’s detectives and their use of all available resources brought these two incidents to a quick closure and prevented these violent offenders from committing further crimes.”
Hornsby, 19, is currently being held in the Woodford County Detention Center on a $50,000 full cash bond. The identity and custodial status of the juvenile is sealed per Kentucky law at this time.