‘Purple gun guy’: Serial robbery suspect facing 55-count indictment accused of shooting at victim in new charges

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - A convicted felon turned serial robbery suspect facing a 55-count indictment in several armed hold-ups faces a new set of charges.

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

They say this latest case shows Ivery, 38, of Spring Grove Village, was growing more dangerous and brazen because he fired his gun at one of the two victims.

It happened in the 900 block of Mount Street in the West End on Aug. 21, according to court records.

Ivery was served with the new charges Thursday at the Hamilton County Justice Center, where he's been locked up on several charges since Sept. 2.

Now he's charged with felonious assault, kidnapping, aggravated robbery, and aggravated burglary.

He is scheduled to return to court at 9 a.m. Friday.

Ivery's total bond on the previous charges is a total of $600,000.

Should he be released, he would be on court-ordered house arrest under electronic monitoring.

In all now, Ivery is charged in at least a dozen robberies over the summer in Hamilton County and Cincinnati.

His crime spread includes the robbery of a Lyft driver who was lured to Cincinnati from Columbus and then robbed at gunpoint of his vehicle and the Aug. 13 armed hold-up at BP gas station in Harrison, court records show.

Ivery has a 2015 aggravated robbery conviction in Hamilton County and, as a result, is no longer permitted to have a gun.

That clearly has not stopped him, however, and he did not go easily when police arrested him earlier this month, over the Labor Day holiday weekend.

He also hurt a police officer in the process.

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

They tried to pull him over, but Ivery fled in the stolen vehicle at a high rate of speed and ran a red light, according to an affidavit.

The vehicle was clocked speeding up to 70 mph as Ivery continued to flee police.

He violated multiple traffic laws"creating a substantial risk of harm to the motoring public," police wrote in the court document.

Multiple police agencies tried to end the chase by throwing down so-called "stop sticks" to deflate his tires.

Springfield Twp and Colerain Twp police successfully used the tire deflation device and, according to court records, the fleeing vehicle finally came to a halt after about a 10-mile chase.

Ivery bailed from the vehicle and ran off but was taken into custody by Cincinnati police.

This is when police say he injured an officer's hand "while actively resisting arrest."

Ivery further complicated the case by lying to police and giving them an ID card portraying him as a man with another name, court records show.

He has a pattern of fleeing police in vehicles he crashes and then runs away.

In the Harrison BP hold-up, Ivery fled in a marked Global Medical Products box truck parked on the south side of the business, police wrote in an affidavit.

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

Uniformed officers tried to stop the truck but Ivery fled and the chase was on.

During this pursuit, the box truck wrecked and Ivery fled on foot, police wrote in a sworn statement.

As he ran, police say he dropped his trademark black and purple handgun about three feet from the truck.