Serial robbery suspect faces 55 new charges after being accused of shooting his victim

CINCINNATI (WXIX) – A convicted felon turned serial robbery suspect facing 55 counts in multiple armed robberies is facing a slew of new charges.

Police refer to Steve Ivery as “the guy with the purple gun” because he uses a black gun with a purple handle.

They say this latest case shows that 38-year-old Ivery of Spring Grove Village was becoming increasingly dangerous and brazen because he fired his gun at one of the two victims.

According to court records, it happened on August 21 in the 900 block of Mount Street in the West End.

The new charges were served on Ivery on Thursday at the Hamilton County Justice Center, where he has been held since Sept. 2 on multiple charges.

He is now accused of grievous bodily harm, kidnapping, aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary.

He is scheduled to appear in court again on Friday at 9 a.m.

Ivery's bail for the previous charges totals $600,000.

If released, he would be under court-ordered house arrest and electronic monitoring.

In total, Ivery is now accused of at least a dozen robberies this summer in Hamilton County and Cincinnati.

His crimes include the robbery of a Lyft driver who was lured from Columbus to Cincinnati and then robbed of his vehicle at gunpoint, as well as the armed robbery of a BP gas station in Harrison on Aug. 13, court records show.

Ivery was convicted of aggravated robbery in Hamilton County in 2015 and is therefore no longer allowed to own a firearm.

However, this clearly did not stop him, and he did not let go easily when police arrested him on Labor Day weekend earlier this month.

He also injured a police officer.

Green Township officers observed Ivery driving the vehicle, which was reported stolen from the Lyft driver on North Bend Road at Interstate 74.

They tried to stop him, but Ivery fled in the stolen vehicle at high speed and ran a red light, an affidavit states.

As Ivery continued to flee from police, speeds of up to 70 miles per hour were recorded.

He violated numerous traffic regulations and “thereby created a significant danger to the motorized public,” police wrote in the court document.

Several police officers attempted to end the chase by throwing so-called “stop sticks” to deflate his tires.

Springfield Twp and Colerain Twp police successfully deployed the device to deflate the tires and, according to court records, the fleeing vehicle finally came to a stop after a roughly 10-mile chase.

Ivery jumped out of the vehicle and ran away, but was arrested by Cincinnati police.

According to police, he injured a police officer’s hand “while actively resisting arrest.”

According to court documents, Ivery further complicated the case by lying to police and presenting them with an ID that identified him as a man with a different name.

He regularly flees from the police in vehicles, causes an accident and then drives away.

During the raid on Harrison BP, Ivery fled in a van marked “Global Medical Products” that was parked on the south side of the company's premises, police wrote in an affidavit.

A detective saw Ivery drive away in the truck and followed him on Dry Fork Road to I-74.

Uniformed officers attempted to stop the truck, but Ivery fled and the pursuit began.

During the chase, the van was destroyed and Ivery fled on foot, police wrote in an affidavit.

According to police, he dropped his trademark black and purple pistol about three feet from the truck as he ran.

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