Sun, May 18 2008
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By Kelly Young
kyoung@jacksonvilleprogress.com
Jacksonville police arrested a man believed to have robbed a Palestine convenience store Friday morning only an hour after the crime took place.
Mark Durrell Hill, 28, of Dallas was taken into custody and charged with theft of a person, a state jail felony.
“The initial call came out Friday morning at about 6 a.m. We were notified that a vehicle was possibly headed into town on U.S. Highway 79 from Palestine which has been involved in a robbery,” Jacksonville Police Department Detective Daniel Franklin said. “A witness to the crime in Palestine observed the vehicle involved in the robbery here in town at the Valero gas station near the city limits.”
Officer Eric Dawes responded to the area, located the vehicle in question and initiated a traffic stop. The Palestine Police Department had informed JPD that the suspects were in a white, four-door vehicle, that the driver was a “skinny, white male” and that the passenger was a “heavy-set, black male.”
“Officer Dawes made contact with the occupants of the vehicle and observed all descriptions to match. The driver was identified as Jay Ryan Hill and the passenger as Mark Durrell Hill,” Franklin said. “At that time, Sgt. (Royce) McCullough had arrived on the scene, and he observed a money bag in plain view on the floor of the vehicle. He also saw a white jersey and a brown knit cap — which is what the black male was wearing at the time of the robbery.”
PPD advised the officers that only Mark Hill was observed to be involved in the robbery. He was arrested at 7:30 a.m., and taken to JPD for holding. Jay Hill was released per PPD’s instructions.
Municipal Judge Pete Menefee arraigned Mark Hill, and set his bond at $25,000. JPD then turned over all evidence to Palestine and transferred Mark Hill into their custody.
The department is also investigating three cases of criminal mischief which occurred over the weekend. Windows were shot-out of vehicles in the 300 block of Bonner Street, the 300 block of Pineda Street and the 400 block of Pineda Street.
“The damages were discovered Sunday at about 11 a.m. The owner of the vehicle in the 300 block of Bonner came outside and observed the passenger-side window to have a small BB gun-sized hole in it. Basically the same thing happened at the other locations as well,” Franklin said. All the residences are located in one confined area, so it was probably just some kids who decided to target a few people. Investigations are on-going.”
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