Police beat

LR teen arrested in 2 store hold-ups

A Little Rock teen was arrested Thursday and charged in a pair of July robberies after his mother identified him to detectives, police said.

After two Mapco convenience stores were robbed early on July 27, Little Rock robbery detectives released a surveillance camera photo to the public.

Over the next few days, they got two calls, one from an anonymous source, the other from a school resource officer. Both identified one of the suspects as Shaquille Galmore, who had attended a Little Rock high school the year before.

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By late August, detectives eventually reached Galmore’s mother and showed her the same surveillance photo; she confirmed that one of the robbers was her son, police said.

Galmore, 18, was arrested at 4800 Arbor Place and charged with two counts of aggravated robbery and two counts of felony theft of property.

Arrest tied to theft of car, drug fraud

It all began with a suspicious vehicle and ended with the arrests of two people within 10 minutes of each other at two separate businesses last week in the Rose City area of North Little Rock.

What the two arrests had in common was Ray Ellis Thomas Jr., 37, of Jacksonville.

Officers pulled into the Rose City Shopping Center on Thursday evening and saw a black 2013 Nissan Altima parked outside the Beauty and Barber barbershop. According to police, the Altima was “suspicious.” Inside the barbershop was a lone barber and his customer. Both claimed the Altima didn’t belong to them.

It turned out the Altima had been reported stolen to Little Rock police.

The officers saw the customer get up from the barber chair and go sit in a recliner. Officers again approached the man, later identified as Thomas. The officers then saw a remote keyless entry on the recliner when the man stood up. It belonged to the Altima.

Thomas was charged with a single count of theft by receiving.

Ten minutes later, officers responded to a nearby pharmacy after the pharmacist reported a woman presented two fake prescriptions. The pharmacist had checked with the doctor, who said the prescriptions were forged as he had no patient with the name on the prescriptions, police said.

The woman who presented the prescriptions, identified as Michelle D. Whittington, 36, of North Little Rock, told officers the man for whom the prescriptions were written, Ray Thomas, “was at home in pain,” according to her arrest disposition report.

But officers knew Thomas was at the barber shop. Whittington was charged with two counts of criminal attempt to commit fraud.

Arkansas, Pages 13 on 12/10/2013

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