Canton man indicted over armed robberies in Cleveland and Toledo, linked by a rental truck
Real photo — via Dr. Chris DevensA Canton man was indicted October 28 on federal charges in connection with armed robberies in Cleveland and Toledo this summer, after investigators linked both crimes to the same rented box truck, the Canton Repository reported, citing an FBI agent's investigation and court records.
Cizquindrie Smith, 38, faces federal charges of interference with commerce by threats or violence and bank robbery, and is accused of taking more than $1,500 across the two robberies. Smith has been detained in Wayne County Jail in Michigan on a $75,000 bond since July 9, after he was accused of ramming a box truck into a Taylor, Michigan, police vehicle and pointing a gun at officers; he also faces charges in Michigan in that incident. The charges are allegations, and Smith is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Court records say that on June 30, a Family Dollar on Clark Avenue in Cleveland was robbed by a person showing a pistol, who made a cashier put $200 in cash into a pink bag — into which the cashier slipped a tracker. A witness saw the man drive off in a U-Haul truck, and restaurant footage from a McDonald's 1.5 miles away, where the same truck had stopped an hour earlier, links Smith to the robbery, according to the records. The truck, a 2020 GMC Savana, had been rented by the mother of one of Smith's children, who was pictured with a bag consistent with the one used in the robbery.
A few days later, on July 2, a Citizens Bank on Lewis Avenue in Toledo was robbed by a man with a dark-colored pistol, who fired one round, told the teller to put money into a black backpack and warned against including trackers, the records say. The bank manager estimated he took $1,341. Toledo police found a spent 9mm shell casing, a projectile lodged in the teller wall and two fragments at the scene, and a license plate reader tracked the same truck northbound on Lewis Avenue toward the Michigan state line at 10:01 a.m. that day.
Sources: The Canton Repository / USA TODAY Network (Oct 28, 2026), citing an FBI agent's investigation and federal court records.
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