Suspect in crime spree charged in Angelina Co.
Trinity Standard - November 2007

GROVETON – The name of the suspect in the Sept. 26 robbery of an Apple Springs video story was released by Lufkin police last week after he was charged in connection with a two-county crime spree.
Jarrod Wayne Gee, 29, of Huntington was charged with aggravated assault in connection with a hit-and-run incident that sent a 38-year-old Lufkin woman to the hospital.
He also was charged with aggravated robbery in connection with the holdup of an Angelina County convenience store and the armed robbery of two women at a Lufkin car wash.
Charges against Gee in connection with the Apple Springs video store robbery were pending. Sheriff Steven Jones said Monday that the case was scheduled to be presented to a Trinity County grand jury for a possible indictment.
According to Lufkin police, the two-county crime spree began at about midnight on Sept. 26 when Gee allegedly approached two women at a Lufkin car wash.
Gee is accused of pointing a sawed-off shotgun in one woman’s face and of taking her purse. The two women told police the bandit drove away in a brown, four-door car.
The second incident occurred at about 6 a.m. in the Brookhollow subdivision in Lufkin where Gee is accused to running over a woman and then driving away.
Police said Gee is believed to have driven past two women walking in the subdivision and then turning around and heading back toward them. As he passed the second time, the car struck Amy Burr, 38, from behind, fracturing her pelvis.
Witnesses at the scene described the vehicle as a dark colored, four-door car.
Police said Gee later told a friend, whose car he had borrowed that night, that he had run over a dog or a deer.
On the night of Sept. 26, Gee is alleged to have traveled to Trinity County where he robbed the Videos and More store in Apple Springs.
In that robbery, a man wearing a ski mask entered the store around 8 p.m. armed with a shotgun. The bandit tied up the store clerk and escaped with a “very small amount” of cash, Jones said following the robbery.
The sheriff said no vehicle was scene at the Apple Springs robbery but that about 90 minutes later, a second robbery was reported in Angelina County.
In that robbery, Gee is alleged to have robbed a Homer Mini-Mart clerk using a sawed-off shotgun. The clerk in that robbery said the bandit drove off in a brown car.
As investigators began to realize that the four cases may be connected to a single suspect, officers with the Trinity County Sheriff’s Department, the Angelina County Sheriff’s Department and Lufkin Police began working together.
“It was the Lufkin Police Department that really took the lead in the investigation and they were able to finally piece it all together,” Jones said.
Investigators really got a break when Gee was arrested on Oct. 9 on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm, which is a federal felony offense.
The arrest came after a family violence reported filed with the Angelina County Sheriff’s Department.
With Gee in custody without bond on the federal charge, investigators were able to gather information – including tips from confidential informants – linking him to the two-county crime spree.
Gee was previously convicted in 1997 and 1998 on charged of burglary of a habitation, escape and retaliation. According to Texas Department of Criminal Justice records, he was released from prison on July 20 after serving his entire 10-year prison sentence.