A 20-year-old Little Rock man has accepted a 15-year prison sentence for participating in nine armed convenience-store robberies, some with multiple victims, conducted over a two-month span in 2018 when he was 17.
Identified by a high-school classmate who was one of his victims and by an uncle who learned about the holdups, Christopher Cornelius Hudson was arrested in January 2019, a month after the last holdup, and has been jailed ever since.
Sentencing papers filed Tuesday show Hudson pleaded guilty to 24 felony charges -- 12 counts of aggravated robbery and 12 counts of theft -- in a plea agreement negotiated by deputy prosecutor Hannah Johnston and defense attorney Furonda Brasfield in exchange for the 15-year term imposed by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims. Hudson will have to serve 10½ years before he can qualify for parole.
All but one of the hold-ups were carried out by two robbers, their faces masked or hooded. Typically, one brandished a gun while the other jumped the counter to rob the cash register or safe. Sometimes, the possessions of the clerk and customers were also stolen. Hudson's accomplice has not been identified.
The robberies were:
• Oct. 23, 2018, 11:49 p.m., Corner Store Valero, 10402 Mabelvale Pike, victim Tammy Howard.
• Oct. 27, 2018, 10:10 p.m., Skyroad, 5105 W. 65th St., victims Balbir Singh and Hector Perez
• Nov. 29, 2018, 8:20 p.m. Superstop, 7300 S. University Ave., victim, Kumar Nimmagadda and Perez Ortiz.
• Dec. 4, 2018, 9:23 p.m., Superstop, 6325 Stagecoach Road., victim Raed Quatom.
• Dec. 9, 2018, 10:55 p.m., Phillips 66, 10401 Arch St., victims Elizabeth and Guy Johnson
• Dec. 15, 2018, 11:30 p.m., Murphy's, 8800 Baseline Road, victims Keona Jackson and Kentrell Brewer.
• Dec. 20, 2018, 9:31 p.m., Quick C-Store, 12106 Sardis Road, victim Kenneth Grady.
• Dec. 23, 2018, 9:13 p.m., Mobil, 7520 Geyer Springs Road, victim Nuruzzaman Talukder
• Dec. 29, 2018, 8:18 p.m., Tom and Jean's, 13622 Sardis Road, victim Amin Bharwan.
Detectives got their first real break in the case about a week after the last holdup when they found surveillance video from the Dec. 15 Murphy's robbery that showed images of the robbers that were distributed to officers and posted on social media.
Three days later, a school resource officer recognized Hudson as one of the pair, court filings show. That same day, Hudson's uncle, Padro Green, contacted police saying he'd seen the photographs and recognized Hudson as one of the robbers.
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Detectives also showed a six-man photo lineup that included Hudson's picture to Brewer, one of the Murphy's victims, who identified Hudson as one of the robbers, recognizing him as a McClellan High School classmate.
Charged as an adult, Hudson was arrested on Jan. 30, 2019, at a Little Rock school facility at 7100 Scott Hamilton Drive, and admitted to participating in the holdups.