A man accused of robbing six businesses in eight days this month in Little Rock pleaded innocent Thursday in Little Rock District Court to multiple felony charges.
Jesse Lee Jackson Jr., 35, faces six counts of aggravated robbery and six counts of theft of property. District Judge Alice Lightle set bail for Jackson at $250,000. He was being held in the Pulaski County jail.
Police arrested Jackson on Wednesday afternoon after naming him Monday as a suspect in two of the holdups.
Jackson is accused of robbing a Dollar General store and a Family Dollar store minutes apart the morning of May 16. At both stores, a man with a silver revolver held employees at gunpoint and took cash, according to police reports. Three people suffered minor injuries in the robberies.
On May 18, a robber took cash and cigarettes from a Valero gas station at 925 Fair Park Blvd. and stabbed an employee in the leg. The employee's injuries were not life-threatening.
Jackson also is a suspect in two robberies on May 19. The first was a robbery at a Walgreens store at 3710 S. University Ave., where a man pulled out a knife, took cash and tried to stab an employee before fleeing about 10:50 a.m. The second holdup that day occurred about 2 miles north of the Walgreens at a Subway restaurant at 6701 W. 12th St. A man entered the restaurant about 6:05 p.m., pulled a knife on employees and took a woman's purse, a police report said.
The most recent robbery in which Jackson is a suspect occurred Monday night, police said. A man with a black handgun held up an Exxon gas station at 2402 Cantrell Road about 9:39 p.m. The robber forced an employee to open a safe, then made off with cash.
A court affidavit released Thursday states that police developed Jackson as a suspect after posting surveillance footage of the robberies on social media sites. A woman, who was not named in the affidavit, reportedly called detectives and said she recognized Jackson in the videos.
Investigators then showed two employees of the robbed Dollar General store a photo lineup that included Jackson's image. One of the employees identified Jackson as the robber, the affidavit states. The other employee did not.
Police arrested Jackson about 2:25 p.m. Wednesday at 122 Vernon St. Court records show he'd been on parole after numerous felony convictions on charges including aggravated assault, burglary and theft.
Police spokesman Officer Richard Hilgeman, noting that Jackson is accused of attacking and injuring three people in the robberies this month, said he didn't know whether additional charges will be filed in the cases.
"That's all up to the detectives, whether or not they want to put that charge on him," he said. "Or, if the prosecutor is wanting to do it."
Jackson's next court date was set for July 26.
Metro on 05/27/2016