LR teen arrested in ’13 carjackings

He had been sought since summer

A Little Rock judge set bail at $1 million for a Little Rock teenager who, already on probation for a robbery in 2010, evaded authorities for months after he was identified as a suspect in a pair of armed carjackings last summer.

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Markist Hampton, 19, pleaded innocent Tuesday morning to five counts of aggravated robbery and five counts of felony theft of property, charges that were signed off on by detectives in August but weren’t served until Hampton was found and arrested in the 9400 block of Stagecoach Road early Monday night.

According to arrest affidavits, Hampton was tied to a July 18 robbery on West 26th Street and another robbery in a South University Avenue business parking lot Aug. 12 after witnesses used Facebook to identify their robbers.

Court records show that at the times of last summer’s robberies, Hampton was serving a three-year probation term stemming from a 2010 robbery where, as a 16-yearold, he robbed a student of his backpack.

On July 18, Lisa Clay and Antonio Johnson were riding in Clay’s 2003 Saturn Ion when Clay stopped at the intersection of West 26th and South Oak streets.

According to police, two men walked up to the vehicle, and a man later identified as Hampton opened Clay’s door and then thrust a gun to the side of her head, ordering the occupants to get out of the car.

Before taking off in Clay’s car with his accomplice, Hampton took the victims’ cellphones and $175 in cash, only to dump the car a day or two later, reports state.

In a meeting with detectives, Johnson said he remembered Hampton from when he lived at the Kanis Point Apartments and also knew him as a classmate of his sister at the Hamilton Learning Academy, and then pointed out Hampton’s picture on Facebook.

Weeks later, Zatoric McFerguson, then 20, pulled into the Citi Trends parking lot at 3901 S. University Ave. around 2 a.m. where there were several people chatting by their parked cars.

McFerguson watched an old blue Bonneville stop in the lot and drive off, then saw a trio of gunmen at the driver’s window, one pointing a gun at his head, court records said.

“The subject stated ‘Get out of the Car’,” affidavits said. “[McFerguson] advised he first thought it was joke because there were several vehicles and people on the far side of the parking lot.”

McFerguson told detectives he tried to start his car but the gunman at his window pressed the gun into the left side of his head and repeated his order.

Once he stepped out, McFerguson was knocked to the ground after the gunman pistol-whipped him in the face, which caused the gun to fire.

The trio rushed into McFerguson’s car and drove off.

McFerguson’s friends told him that they knew one of his robbers as “Brim Boy Juvie,” which is also the Facebook profile name for Hampton.

Both detectives and witnesses confirmed Hampton as a suspected gunman on Facebook, and warrants were issued.

Although police had been looking for Hampton since late July and had arrested Robert Johnson III, a co-suspect in the Aug. 12 robbery, they were unable to serve Hampton’s warrants until Monday.

Calls to detectives, as well as the department’s spokesmen, Lt. Sidney Allen and Sgt. Cassandra Davis, were not returned Tuesday to explain how Hampton evaded police for so long.

Arkansas, Pages 10 on 02/26/2014

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