The second of two Malvern men arrested in 2016 after assaulting a woman at a Hot Springs gas station and stealing her purse pleaded guilty Tuesday in Garland County Circuit Court.
Javonte Jone Jones, 24, pleaded guilty to felony robbery and was sentenced to eight years in prison, while an additional felony charge of second-degree battery was withdrawn. A permanent order barring Jones from any contact with the victim was also issued.
His accomplice, Isaiah Keyun Boyce, 19, pleaded guilty Dec. 4, 2017, to robbery and was sentenced to 10 years, and second-degree battery and was sentenced to three years, with the sentences to run concurrently.
Both men had remained in custody since their arrest Nov. 16, 2016, the day of the robbery.
According to the affidavit, on Nov. 16, around 5:30 p.m., Garland County sheriff's Deputy Andrew Goodman responded to the Corner Store, 4198 Malvern Ave., and made contact with a woman, 48, who was sitting on the ground next to her vehicle near the car wash. She had blood coming from her nose and bruising and swelling around her left eye.
She said she had been sitting in her vehicle at the station and had opened her driver's side door when a black male started screaming at her and punching her in the face. He then grabbed her purse and fled the scene. She said her purse contained a pair of reading glasses and a checkbook.
A dispatcher told Goodman a witness was following the vehicle the suspect fled in, a dark blue Ford pickup, in the 900 block of Akers Road. Goodman responded to the area, pulled behind the truck and activated his lights to make a traffic stop. The truck continued on Akers to its intersection with Malvern where it turned into a vacant lot.
The driver, identified as Jones, was taken into custody for fleeing. During an inventory of the truck, deputies located a black wallet with Boyce's ID and $29 and another wallet with a third suspect's ID and $80. Arkansas State police had located Boyce and brought him to the location and Jones identified him as one of the two men who had been with him earlier.
Sheriff's investigators indicated all three suspects were believed to be involved in the robbery, but the third suspect was never located.
Local on 02/15/2018