When Willie Lee Jackson entered a Dunkin' Donuts store in September, he'd have been far better off ordering a couple of jelly doughnuts and a coffee latte. Instead, he displayed a gun and robbed the place, and now he's looking at five years to life in prison.
The store is located at 6699-C Frontier Drive in Springfield. And last week in Fairfax County Circuit Court, Jackson, 24, of the 4100 block of Monument Court in Fair Oaks, pleaded guilty to robbing it on Sept. 7.
Police Detective Paul Alexander provided details of the case against Jackson in an Oct. 5 affidavit for a warrant to search his home for the handgun used and the clothing worn by the robber during the crime. Alexander wrote that the suspect had worn gray sweat pants, a white T-shirt and a black do-rag while robbing the business of its dough.
"Upon entering the store and going to the front counter, the suspect stated, 'You know what to do,'" wrote the detective. "And at the same time, [he] lifted up his T-shirt, displaying the grip of a handgun."
But the female clerk was too scared to comply with the robber's demands, so, wrote Alexander, "The suspect tried to gain entry behind the counter, but the gate was locked. [He] then walked back to the front of the counter and again demanded the victim give him the money."
This time, she opened the cash register, placed its contents on the counter, and, wrote Alexander, "The suspect grabbed [it]." He then told the clerk to lie on the floor and not move. When she did, he fled with the cash — but the incident was recorded by a closed-circuit TV security system.
The detective noted that a confidential informant identified Jackson as the robber. This person was then directed by police to phone Jackson. Alexander wrote that when the informant told Jackson his picture was on a wanted poster at the jail, Jackson said, "You got to really know me to know who it is."
Furthermore, after police arrested and interviewed him, Oct. 4, wrote Alexander, "A closer inspection confirmed that the subject in the video was Jackson."
An Oct. 6 search of his condo yielded a pair of gray sweat pants, two white T-shirts and two bandannas — one black and one dark blue.
On Nov. 22 in General District Court, Judge Mark Simmons certified Jackson's robbery charge to the grand jury — which indicted him on Dec. 20. Jackson pleaded guilty on Monday, Dec. 27, before Circuit Court Judge Gaylord Finch. He's now slated for sentencing on Feb. 17.