OTTUMWA —
An Ottumwa man accused of murdering an adult movie theater manager is scheduled to go on trial next month.
Bruce Darnell Pollard, 25, has been charged with first-degree murder and first-degree robbery.
Law enforcement found the body of Kenneth McDaniel, 70, of Ottumwa, inside the front door of the Cinema X theater shortly after 11 a.m. on March 13, 2012.
The night before, police were called to the Sonic drive-in restaurant on North Wapello Street. They were told a gunman had robbed a carhop, stealing an undisclosed amount of money and fleeing on foot.
Two days after the murder on March 15, 2012, officers responded to an armed robbery at the Jefferson Street BP convenience store. They were told that a man had robbed the clerk and a customer at gunpoint, stealing an undisclosed amount of money and fleeing on foot.
Several hours later, Pollard was charged with going armed with intent and first-degree robbery in the Sonic stickup.
Later at the Wapello County Jail, he was also charged with going armed with intent and two counts of first-degree robbery in the gas station robberies.
The court recently ordered that the trials regarding the Sonic and gas station robberies “may be held beyond the one-year deadline.”
Two months after Pollard was charged in the robberies, he was hit with two other charges: first-degree murder and first-degree robbery in the Cinema X murder and robbery.
His jury trial is set to begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 9.
Local News
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Bruce Pollard
March 14, 2013
Pollard murder trial set
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