Fingerprints on a bag of chips recently led to the arrest of a Marion man in connection with the armed robbery of a local convenience store earlier this month and the robbery, and attempted robbery, of two businesses in May.
Terrell Thomas, 22, was taken into custody at 3:15 p.m. Friday and charged with two felony counts of aggravated robbery, punishable by up to life in prison, one count of criminal attempt at aggravated robbery, punishable by up to 30 years, theft of property, punishable by up to 20 years, criminal attempt at theft of property, punishable by up 10 years, theft of property more than $1,000 and breaking or entering, each punishable by up to six years.
Thomas remained in custody in lieu of zero bond on the aggravated robbery charges and bonds totaling $23,500 on the other charges on Monday. He is set to appear Aug. 30 in Garland County District Court.
According to an affidavit, on Aug. 3, an employee at the Park Avenue Superstop, 866 Park Ave., told Hot Springs police a black male entered the store, selected a bag of chips and approached the register. As he placed them on the counter, the man allegedly produced a handgun, pointed it at the employee's head and demanded money from the register.
The suspect was given an undisclosed amount of money and fled to a waiting vehicle. Surveillance footage captured the incident and the bag of chips was submitted to the state crime lab for fingerprints.
On Aug. 8, crime lab results matched fingerprints collected from the chip bag to Thomas.
According to the affidavits from the May incidents, at around 10 p.m. May 15 HSPD officers responded to Burger King, 228 W. Grand Ave., in reference to an aggravated robbery. Two employees said that a black male entered the restaurant armed with a handgun and demanded money from the safe. The suspect fled when employees told him that only a manager could open the safe.
The suspect was described as wearing black shoes, a black sweatshirt, gray sweatpants and a white T-shirt partially covering his face. One of the employees recognized the suspect as having been in the store earlier. Surveillance footage showed the earlier customer wearing the described clothing.
At around 11:30 p.m. that same night, a manager at Holiday Inn Express, 206 Mehta Court, reported that an unknown suspect forced open the register while an employee was taking a break. Surveillance footage showed a black male breaking into the register and then going to the office area, stealing a small safe containing an undisclosed amount of money.
It was determined to be the same suspect from the earlier Burger King robbery, wearing the same jacket. A surveillance photo was published in The Sentinel-Record and posted on social media to try to identify the suspect.
The estranged spouse of Thomas told detectives she had seen the photo in The Sentinel-Record from the Burger King robbery and reportedly identified the suspect as Thomas.
Local on 08/23/2016