By Jennifer Edwards
Enquirer staff writer

WALNUT HILLS - An 18-year-old Mount Airy man suspected in a string of armed robberies around Cincinnati this week was jailed Friday in lieu of $36,000 bond at the Hamilton County Justice Center on multiple charges.

Taher Taher of the 4800 block of Hawaiian Terrace was arrested about 4 p.m Thursday. after Cincinnati police saw him driving a reported stolen white Toyota Corolla at Lincoln and Melrose streets that they suspected was involved in the robberies.

Taher was charged with one count of aggravated robbery, two counts of complicity to aggravated robbery and one count each of receiving stolen property and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to police records.

He also was charged with obstructing official business after police alleged that he ran from officers and cut his right hand when he scaled a chain-link fence, Byrd said.

Lt. Kurt Byrd, spokesman for Cincinnati police, said Taher might face additional charges.

Taher was also wanted on two outstanding juvenile arrest warrants, for a parole violation and a violation of a court order, according to court records.

"Eighteen years old, (and) he's making his way through the system already," Byrd said. "... We are looking at additional charges on him and other people."

The recovery of the 1998 Corolla ended a day of searching for the vehicle that police said had been involved in at least four robberies - from Over-the-Rhine to University Heights and Bond Hill - between about 1:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. Thursday.

In the last one, a woman on her way to a bus stop with a co-worker in Mount Auburn about 7:50 a.m. said a man got out of a white Toyota with a white T-shirt over his face, displayed a handgun and demanded her purse. She threw the purse down, as did her co-worker, who also kicked off her shoes and ran.

"We were like, oh, man, he's robbing us," said the 34-year-old Mount Auburn mother of two young children.

"I had a little clutch purse. I threw it to him because I don't know what he would have done to me if I wouldn't have got it off my arm," the woman said. "My friend threw her purse and started running. I couldn't do anything. I think I was blacked out."

The woman lost her purse, wallet, credit cards, $10 in cash and house keys. Police found her house keys in the Corolla, she said.

The Corolla was taken at gunpoint on Hackberry Street in Evanston about 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The driver, Brian Wylie from Southgate, told police two black men in their 20s put a gun to his neck and took the car.

E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com.