SAVANNAH, GA (June 6, 2011): Charges are mounting against a 30-year-old Savannah man charged with armed robbery after a Downtown foot chase this weekend.
Willie Frank Smart of the 700 block of East 33rd Street was arrested at MLK Boulevard and Bay Street after leading police on an extended foot race. He has been charged with three robberies and a theft, so far, and robbery detectives are looking into at least as many more crimes he may have been involved in.
A 17-year-old girl with him, Michelle Keyinna Smith of Garden City, later was charged with making false statements and being party to one of the crimes.
Savannah Chatham Metropolitan Police had been called to Papy Street and Turner Boulevard just after 10 p.m. Sunday when a college student and her mother reported a man with a handgun and a young woman had robbed them of the mother’s purse. The purse contained, among other things, credit cards and cash.
Patrol officers, detectives from the SCMPD Criminal Investigations Division and the Downtown Precinct, and officers from the Neighborhood Task Force and Tactical Reaction and Prevention Team had been jointly patrolling the area after recent robberies Downtown and were able to saturate the search area quickly.
A detective found Smart who matched the description from the robbery and called in reinforcements. When ordered to the ground, Smart stooped to a running stance and took off with officers in pursuit. Along the way he dropped a gun matching the description from the robbery, which turned out to be a pellet gun. He was apprehended several blocks away.
Police found the mother’s purse with its contents spread on the ground in the area where they first identified Smart. During the investigation, detectives talked to Smith, who first provided conflicting statements and then was identified as the female in the robbery.
Smart later was identified as the suspect in two other robberies and a theft in the past week.
Last Wednesday, a 24-year-old woman reported her purse had been stolen from her car while it was parked in the 400 block of Trey Drive. The car had been left unlocked while she picked up her children from a relative’s house. She later realized the purse was missing and her brother was able to trace it to an address on Jamestown Road where she knows no one.
The following day a 42-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman, both from Texas, were at Price and East Julian Street around 11 a.m. when a man on a mountain bike rode up, cornered them and produced a black fun and demanded her purse.
At 3:30 p.m. that same Thursday, two men reported they were outside an apartment in the 1400 block of Jefferson Street when a man on a bicycle produced a black gun and demanded their money. He took both men’s wallets and ordered them into the apartment before riding off on a mountain bike.
Robbery unit detectives are continuing their investigation into a series of robberies in the area, six of them involving a man on a bicycle.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Crimestoppers at (912) 234-2020 or text CRIMES (274637). In the body type, include “CStop2020” plus the tip. Tipsters remain anonymous and may qualify for a cash reward.
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SAVANNAH, GA (June 6, 2011): A 30-year-old Savannah man has been charged with armed robbery in two cases and a 17-year-old girl with him has been charged with making false statements and being party to a crime after a Downtown foot chase this weekend.
Willie Frank Smart of the 700 block of East 33rd Street was arrested at MLK Boulevard and Bay Street after leading police on an extended foot race. Michelle Keyinna Smith of Garden City was later charged with making false statements and being part to a crime.
Savannah Chatham Metropolitan Police had been called to Papy Street and Turner Boulevard just after 10 p.m. Sunday when a college student and her mother reported a man with a handgun and a young woman had robbed the mother of her purse. The purse contained, among other things, credit cards and cash.
Patrol officers, detectives from the SCMPD Criminal Investigations Division and the Downtown Precinct, and officers from the Neighborhood Task Force and Tactical Reaction and Prevention Team had been jointly patrolling the area after recent robberies Downtown and were able to saturate the search area quickly.
A detective found Smart, who matched the description from the robbery, and called in reinforcements. When ordered to the ground, Smart stooped to a running stance and took off with officers in pursuit. Along the way he dropped a gun matching the description from the robbery, which turned out to be a pellet gun. He was apprehended several blocks away.
Police found the mother’s purse with its contents spread on the ground in the area where they first identified Smart. During the investigation, detectives talked to Smith, who first provided conflicting statements and then was identified as the female in the robbery.
Smart was later identified as the suspect in last Thursday’s robbery of two men in the 1400 block of Jefferson Street. The two men reported they were outside an apartment when a black man walked up, produced a black gun and demanded their money. He took both men’s wallets and ordered them into the apartment before riding off on a mountain bike.
Robbery unit detectives are continuing their investigation into a series of robberies in the area, six of them involving a man on a bicycle.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Crimestoppers at (912) 234-2020 or text CRIMES (274637). In the body type, include “CStop2020” plus the tip. Tipsters remain anonymous and may qualify for a cash reward.
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