Trinity man held on robbery charge
Trinity Standard - December 2007

TRINITY – A Trinity area man was being held this week under a $25,000 bond after being charged last week with aggravated robbery.
According to Trinity County Sheriff Steven Jones, James Drone was taken into custody shortly after midnight Saturday morning. Bond on a felony aggravated robbery charge was set by Pct. 2 Justice of the Peace Robert Stubblefield.
Drone is accused of using intimidation to rob an 83-year-old woman on two occasions last month.
Although no weapon was used, Jones said the charge was elevated to “aggravated” status because of the age of the victim.
The robberies occurred Nov. 14 and 16 at the Sportsman’s Retreat in the Sebastopol area off FM 356. Once housing a night club, the business is now a resale shop, Jones said.
“On both occasions, he entered the business, gave the woman a threatening look and then marched over to the cash register and took all of the money,” Jones said.
Jones said his department was notified of the incidents on Nov. 28 when they responded to a call at the business involving cut telephone lines.
Deputy Millard Stains was the investigating officer and was able to obtain a warrant for Drone’s arrest on Friday, Dec. 7.

Constable aided investigation
In other information coming out of the sheriff’s department, Pct. 4 Constable Kent Blanchard was praised for his assistance during the investigation of a robbery at an Apple Springs video store.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Tom Hester noted that following the Sept. 26 robbery, Blanchard was closely involved in a joint investigation involving both the Trinity and Angelina county sheriff’s department.
“He did a lot of leg work on the case and he contributed a great deal to the investigation, which lead to the arrest of s suspect in Angelina County,” Hester said.
Jarrod Wayne Gee, 29, of Huntington was subsequently charged in Angelina County in connection with a day-long crime spree that involved the Apple Springs robbery as well as two armed robberies in Angelina County and a hit-and-run accident in Lufkin.