By Andy Sevilla.
Two Austin men are behind bars in connection with an aggravated robbery at the Hays City Store near Driftwood in October, and authorities say the suspects also may be involved in at least five other robberies spanning several counties in Texas.
| Hennington | Jones |
Texas Rangers were able to pinpoint a suspect through historical cellular data for the locations where five aggravated robberies took place between July and October 2013 across central Texas, according to court documents. The data turned up a cell phone number registered to Nathaniel Cory Jones, who was identified as being in the location of four of the robberies, including at the Hays City Store robbery on Oct. 10, where a masked man wearing dark clothing held the store clerk at gunpoint and made away with about $500 from the register.
DPS SWAT officers arrested Nathaniel Jones, 28, and Clifton Bryant Hennington, 35, in South Austin at a Diamond Shamrock near the William Cannon and South Pleasant Valley Drive intersection on Jan. 27, after continuing surveillance on them for about ten days, court documents state.
Texas Rangers noticed a pattern in the robberies that may help them tie the suspects to several cases. According to authorities, a Fayetteville store’s surveillance cameras captured what appeared to be a 2009 to 2013 black Ford F-150 four-door pickup with chrome wheels and chrome step rails near the store just before a suspect approached the establishment and robbed them on Oct. 2, according to court documents. The suspect then fled after the robbery in the direction where the pickup had stopped.
A subsequent aggravated robbery on Oct. 22 at a Gonzales convenience store followed the same pattern where a man wearing identical dark clothing, carrying an identical bag across his shoulder – as was reportedly the case in Fayetteville and the Hays City Store – came in the store and held the clerk at gunpoint before fleeing toward a black Ford F-150 pickup, court documents state.
This time, however, there was a witness to the Gonzales store robbery. A man told authorities he observed a black Ford F-150 pickup parked across from his home on Oct. 22, which was a few blocks from the store where the robbery occurred, according to the suspects’ probable cause affidavits. The witness is reported as saying he saw a person wearing dark clothing and a mask running from the direction of the convenience store and up to the same black Ford F-150 pickup, and the masked person got in the truck through the right rear passenger door as the pickup drove away.
The witness described the truck as a newer model, 2009 to 2013, four-door, black Ford F-150 with chrome wheels, chrome step rails and body damage on the passenger side of the truck on the cab behind the right rear door and onto the bed of the pickup, according to court documents.
Through the historical cellular data Texas Ranger Jimmy Schroeder, who was investigating the Hays City Store robbery, received on Jan. 10, Jones’ cell phone number appeared on the same day, at the same time and in the same location as four of the five robberies he looked into, court documents state. A subsequent search of Texas vehicle registration records turned up that Jones was the owner of a black 2009 Ford F-150 pickup, documents state.
Utilizing surveillance measures, on Jan. 17, Schroeder was able to locate Jones’ black Ford F-150, which had four doors, chrome wheels and step rails, and body damage on the passenger side consistent with the description and location given by the Gonzales story robbery witness. Once the truck was located, Schroeder and other DPS officers kept close watch for ten days; and at about 5:50 a.m. on Jan. 27 the officers observed Jones travel to a location just south of the Diamond Shamrock near the William Cannon and South Pleasant Valley Drive intersection in South Austin, court documents state.
Once the truck was parked, a person wearing all black clothing exited the pickup and proceeded through a wooded area in the direction of the convenience store, according to court documents. That man (Hennington) was then apprehended by DPS SWAT officers as he approached the back of the Diamond Shamrock. Officers then arrested Jones who was found seated in his parked truck near the location where Hennington had exited the vehicle.
Authorities said Hennington was wearing a black Under Armor hoodie identical to the one worn in many of the aggravated robberies Texas Rangers looked into, and he was found in possession of a black face covering and a black Daisy pellet gun which resembled closely a semi-automatic handgun, according to court documents.
Jones and Hennington have been charged with felony aggravated robbery and are being held at the Hays County Jail on a $500,000 bond each.
