Jasper armed robbery suspect captured shortly after heist

20-year-old Lorenzo Ashton Thomas of Jasper

20-year-old Lorenzo Ashton Thomas of Jasper

By Sandi Saulsbury

Last Tuesday, August 22nd at approximately 9:00 p.m. officers with the Jasper Police Department were dispatched to the Jasper Jiffy Market located at 2209 Highway 63 West after a report that the store had been robbed at gunpoint.

Once Officers arrived, they were given the suspect's description of a black male wearing all black and a mask resembling the ones worn during the COVID outbreak. Officers were also told that the suspect fled into the wooded area northeast behind the store towards Prospect Road. Jasper Police Lt. Garrett Foster said that Officers with the Jasper Police Department along with Deputies with the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office quickly set up a perimeter around the area.

Foster said, “A short time later Officer Twine made a stop on a vehicle leaving the Prospect Road area with a passenger that matched the suspect’s description. Jasper Police Department detectives were able to determine through surveillance video and evidence found in the vehicle that the passenger, 20-year-old Lorenzo Ashton Thomas of Jasper, was in fact the same person who robbed the store. Officers were able to recover the cash Thomas had taken from the store’s register. Thomas was arrested and transported to the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office where he was booked in for the charge of Aggravated Robbery which is a First-Degree Felony in the State of Texas”.

Thomas’ bond has been set at $350,000 by Justice of the Peace Gina Cleveland.

The driver of the car Thomas was a passenger in, has not been charged at this time.