North Little Rock teen's guilty plea in armed robbery of pizza deliverer earns him decade in prison

Aaron Elliott
Aaron Elliott

The last of three North Little Rock men who ambushed a pizza deliveryman and stole his car at gunpoint has been sentenced to prison. Police say all three admitted to the robbery.

Sentencing papers filed last week by deputy prosecutor Scott Duncan show that Aaron Elliott, 18, pleaded guilty before Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims to aggravated robbery and theft.

Under the plea deal negotiated by his attorney, Bobby Digby, Elliott accepted a 10-year prison sentence, the minimum.

Prosecutors also dropped an unrelated felony terroristic-threatening charge based on accusations that Elliott threatened to kill his older brother, Trevae Elliott, during a Sept. 1 altercation about 4:30 p.m. at the family home at 3510 Sycamore St.

Aaron Elliott was 17 and the youngest of the three teens who held up 23-year-old Jimmy Clestine West of Little Rock just before 9 p.m. on Sept. 1 outside a home at 105 Kansas Ave. in North Little Rock. According to a police report, West flagged down patrol police officer Joshua Threlkeld near East Military Drive and Kansas Avenue just after armed robbers took his car.

West said he had pulled into the driveway of the residence to deliver a pizza for Domino’s, and was accosted by the gunmen, who pulled him out of his white Toyota Camry and drove off.

The pizza had been ordered under the name “Janett.” The homeowner, Danny Brown, told police he hadn’t ordered any pizza.

Brown said he got home shortly before 9 p.m. to find strangers on his porch, three hoodie-wearing men who said they were waiting for someone named Jimmy. Brown said he told them there was no Jimmy at his house and ran them off.

West’s mother, Mary Powell, was able to track her son’s cellphone, and police found it about two hours later on Interstate 40 near Crystal Hill Road.

Charged as an adult, Aaron Elliott was arrested at 615 W. 29th St. about two weeks after the holdup and admitted to participating in the robbery, court filings show.

Devonte Lamont Nelson, 18, was arrested on Sept. 15, also at 615 W. 29th St.Nelson, represented by attorney Amy Jackson, pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and theft in March in exchange for a 12-year prison sentence.

Court records show that Nelson was on probation at the time of the robbery for felony convictions for breaking or entering, reduced from residential burglary, theft and fleeing related to a pair of arrests about six months apart when Nelson was 16.

In December 2016, he was arrested for a pair of October 2016 break-ins at homes at 217 W. Eighth St. and 808½ Orange St. in North Little Rock.

He was next arrested in June 2017 after leading North Little Rock police on a chase in a stolen gray Toyota Corolla. His passenger, Noah Cimmaron Samuels, now 20, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft by receiving in exchange for a year on probation.

Charged as an adult, Nelson pleaded guilty in November 2017 in exchange for five years on probation.

Tyrel Scott, 18, of North Little Rock was the first suspect to be arrested in the September robbery. He was caught driving the deliveryman’s stolen car about three hours after the holdup. Police saw the car parked at 2623 Main St. Scott, then 17, sped away, and officers pursued him.

The chase ended at the I-40 on-ramp at Percy Machin Drive when Scott crashed the car. Police found a stolen .40-caliber pistol in the car console.

Court records show that Scott was on parole at the time for theft by receiving related to his June 2017 arrest in Little Rock at age 16. He was found with a stolen van and credit card that had been taken from the Vera Lloyd Presbyterian Family Services facility in Monticello. Court records show that he had previously escaped Youth Services Division custody.

Scott, represented by attorney Erin Cassinelli, pleaded guilty in March to aggravated robbery in exchange for a 12-year sentence, with prosecutors dropping theft, fleeing and firearm charges.

Another three years was added to that term for breaking or entering after Scott pleaded guilty to a charge for participating in a car break-in on Aug. 27 in Maumelle. Two others were arrested with him, 18-year-old Fayshun Rajay Verser and Alexyes Breyana Woods, 21, both of North Little Rock. Their trials are pending.

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