Stolen Police Rifle Recovered

At about 10:30 p.m. on February 3, 2015 Lexington police responded to a robbery call at a convenience store on Newtown Pike. The victims reported that a man came into the store armed with an assault rifle and took cash, cigarettes, lottery tickets, and other items before leaving on
foot. A K-9 team established a track from the store to a nearby storage facility and located a suspect, who was identified as Kyler Aery, shortly thereafter. Aery was carrying a backpack and initially told the officers he was visiting his storage unit before trying to find a place to sleep for the night.

Security footage from the store showed the suspect entering with an assault rifle, taking the property, and wiping down the door as he left. Video from the storage facility showed a suspect climbing over the fence and entering one of the buildings. Aery was Mirandized and admitted to committing the robbery but stated the rifle used was a toy that he had thrown away. Police recovered several thousand dollars from the backpack and obtained a search warrant for Aery’s storage unit.

The search warrant led to the discovery of the loaded AR-15 assault rifle used to commit the robbery, checks and documents from the store, and other items including clothing that matched the security video and the stolen lottery tickets and cigarettes. The rifle had been reported stolen from a locked police cruiser in an adjacent county earlier the same day. It became apparent that Aery had changed clothes and hidden most of the stolen items in his storage unit before the police located him.

Criminal records show Aery, 30, has a relatively minor history in Kentucky, but a variety of activity from other states, including a felony burglary conviction from Wisconsin. Aery pled guilty to Robbery, First Degree and Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon and was sentenced to serve 13 years in the penitentiary.