|
Robbery suspects headed to prison |
|
Friday, 06 November 2009 |
By BRIAN HAWKINS
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Two Starkville teens are headed to prison in connection with the respective armed robbery and robbery of two local convenience stores last year.
Carl Baptist Jr., 18, of 1630 Josie Allen Road, and Chauntrez G. Jenkins, 16, of 410 McKee St., each pleaded guilty to individual charges of armed robbery and robbery in the September 2008 armed robbery of the Sprint Mart convenience store on Academy Road at South Louisville Street and the robbery of the Down the Hatch Deli/BP convenience store on Russell Street at Gillespie Street.
Baptist was sentenced to a combined 19 years in prison for the two charges against him.
Jenkins was sentenced to serve 13 years in prison for the robbery and armed robbery charges, plus another 15 years in prison for four charges of burglary of a dwelling and one charge of attempted burglary of a dwelling to which he had pleaded guilty.
In the armed robbery incident, two suspects — later identified as Baptist and Jenkins — went into the Sprint Mart store, one of them brandishing a small-caliber handgun, Starkville police said. The suspects ordered the clerk to open the cash register, and they removed the cash inside, fleeing on foot east on Academy Road, officers said.
Two other teens who were acting as lookouts were also charged with armed robbery in the Sprint Mart case.
In the robbery incident, the suspects entered the Down the Hatch Deli store, and one of them went to purchase a soft drink. As the clerk opened the register, the second suspect shoved her out of the way and removed all the cash before fleeing on foot, police said.
Security video from the Down the Hatch robbery — which took place three days after the Sprint Mart heist — lead police to identify Jenkins and Baptist as the suspects in that case.
The burglary charges against Jenkins were filed in April while he was out on bond on the armed robbery and robbery charges.
Jenkins was arrested after police stopped him for a field interview after a high number of residential and vehicular burglaries had been reported across the city during the spring months, police said.
The officer who stopped Jenkins soon discovered items stolen in a recent residential burglary inside a backpack in the car Jenkins was driving, and the subsequent investigation led to his arrest in multiple cases, police said.
|
|
Last Updated ( Saturday, 07 November 2009 )
|
