CARMI – A St. Louis woman will spend several years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for the June attempted armed robbery at the Road Ranger truck stop in Grayville.
White County State’s Attorney Denton Aud announced Wednesday that 40-year-old Kimberly Clerk was sentenced Wednesday in White County Court to 23 years in IDOC and will serve 18 months of mandatory supervised release for Aggravated Battery with a Firearm – a Class X felony, and 15 years in IDOC with one year of mandatory supervised release for Attempted Armed Robbery – a Class 1 felony.
Aud says a Class X felony has a sentencing range of 6 to 30 years. Based on the offense, Clerk will have to serve a minimum of 85% of the 23 year sentence which means that she will be spending the next two decades in custody. The other counts were dismissed pursuant to the plea agreement, which was a plea agreement that the victim was in agreement with to conclude the case. In pleading guilty, Clerk admitted that she was attempting to commit an armed robbery of the Road Ranger in Grayville on June 4, 2023. She also admitted to discharging a firearm that resulted in an injury to the victim, a Road Ranger employee.
The Illinois State Police investigated the case with assistance from the White County Sheriff’s Department and the Grayville Police Department.
Clerk faced preliminary charges of Aggravated Battery/Discharge of a Firearm, Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Armed Robbery/Discharge of a Firearm(Class X), Cause of Child to Be Endangered and Felony Possession/Use of a Firearm with prior when she was arrested. Clerk was taken to the Jefferson County Jail to face extradition to White County.
White County Sheriff Jordan Weiss said at 3 a.m. on June 4, one of his deputy’s and a Grayville Police officer were at the Grayville Police Department handling another call at the time. They both left and arrived at the truck stop within minutes. A witness told the deputy and officer that the shooter fled the scene in a silver SUV. Both officers found a female lying on the floor in the office area with a single gunshot wound to the upper left torso. A witness had already started to apply pressure to the wound. The deputy and officer immediately rendered aid to the female until White County EMS arrived. An Edwards County Sheriff’s deputy also arrived at the truck stop to help. The female, identified as the night employee, was still conscious and breathing. She was airlifted to Deaconess Midtown Hospital for injuries sustained. The suspect description was given to officers on scene as a black female wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt.
The sheriff says he arrived on scene along with Grayville’s police chief. The sheriff notified ISP Investigations of the incident. They arrived and agreed to lead the investigation along with ISP Crime Scene Services. An alert was put out to all units within ISP Troop 9 about the incident and vehicle description. A payment card was dropped from the suspect with a name on it. The suspect was identified as Kimberly Clerk from St. Louis.
After some time, an ISP trooper located a vehicle matching the description around mile marker 84 on I-64. It appeared to be disabled. ISP troopers made contact with a female inside the vehicle and said that she matched the description of the suspect. After further investigation, troopers learned that the female was Clerk. She was identified by a state issued driver’s license. She was placed in handcuffs and preliminary charged with the offenses mentioned above. Three juveniles were also in the vehicle at the time of the arrest. They were placed in the care of the Department of Children and Family Services.
The victim was reported to be in stable condition at the hospital.