RMC Robber Arrested
A man who robbed a student at the Rice Memorial Center on Tuesday, March 31 was arrested Thursday morning and charged with second-degree felony.
Antonio Jackson, 26, committed a misdemeanor theft at the University of Houston-Downtown last month and arrived in Harris County court Saturday morning for his hearing, where officials had him taken into custody. Jackson had an additional outstanding warrant for a similar robbery he committed March 19 at a METRORail station.
On Tuesday, Jackson had watched a student withdraw cash at the RMC and followed him to Miner Lounge, where he asked the student for money. Jackson implied he had a gun and a knife after the student offered to buy food for him. The student gave him $90 and was able to take photos of him as Jackson fled across campus and escaped in a truck.
Rice University Police Department Sergeant Gary Spears shared information about the robbery with other investigators in the region, including a METRO investigator. This prompted the investigators to connect the two robberies with a mug shot of Jackson from his UH arrest. The Rice student who had been robbed and another witness were able to identify Jackson as the subject and the district attorney released an arrest warrant by Wednesday morning.
“Teamwork was crucial to solving this case so quickly,” Rice Chief of Police Johnny Whitehead said. “Sgt. Spears was able to identify the suspect and secure an arrest warrant in less than 12 hours because of the cooperative network among local investigators and the witnesses who came forward after receiving our crime alert.”
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