Last July, someone robbed the Chevy Chase Bank inside the Giant Foods store in the Colonnade at Union Mill Shopping Center in Clifton. Now, police have arrested the man they believe is responsible: Christopher J. Jackson, 40, of 3863 Tiburon Place in Alexandria.
And they say that someone perusing the "America's Most Wanted" Web site called Fairfax County Crime Solvers with a tip that led to Jackson's capture. But that's not all.
POLICE ALSO charged Jackson with committing the same, exact crime in Springfield. And detectives are exchanging information with several other jurisdictions to determine if Jackson was involved in 11 other bank robberies around the region, including ones in Falls Church, Prince William County and the City of Alexandria.
In a May 24 affidavit for a warrant to search Jackson's condo for clothing, weapons, ammunition and documents related to the Springfield and Clifton robberies, Det. Gary Bailey presented details of the case against him.
He wrote that, between December 2005 and May 2007, at least 10 banks within grocery stores in the Washington Metropolitan area were robbed by a single person, including:
* On May 20, 2006 at 10:55 a.m., a man walked into the Chevy Chase Bank inside the Giant Foods Store at 6426 Springfield Plaza. He demanded money from the female teller verbally and in a note. She complied and he fled.
* On July 8, 2006, at 12:20 p.m., a man entered the Chevy Chase Bank inside the Giant Foods Store at 5740 Union Mill Road. He demanded cash from the teller and passed her a note reiterating his demand and implying that he had a gun. She relinquished an undisclosed amount of money and he fled.
Police investigated, but didn't get a break until last week — the week of May 21 — when Bailey spoke with a concerned citizen who'd been surfing the Internet and eventually ended up on the Web site of America's Most Wanted.
Bailey wrote that the citizen told him that he/she recognized several photographs on that site as someone he/she had previously known. This person then reportedly identified the man in the photos as Jackson.
"THE CITIZEN stated that he/she knew that Christopher Jackson was from Texas and served jail time [there]," wrote the detective. Bailey then searched police/sheriff department records and developed Christopher Jackson, with a birth date of Dec. 18, 1966, as a suspect.
Further checking with the National Criminal Information Center revealed that this Jackson had a prior conviction for unlawfully carrying a weapon in 1989 in San Antonio. He'd also been convicted of unlawfully carrying a weapon and driving on a suspended license in San Antonio in 1993. And in 1997, he was arrested as a fugitive from Texas in Arlington County, Va.
Bailey also obtained a photograph of Christopher Jackson, born Dec. 18, 1966, from the Virginia DMV. He compared it to multiple, bank-surveillance photographs taken during the robberies and reportedly was able to "positively identify" the robber as Jackson.
He then obtained Jackson's address and, last Thursday, May 24, police arrested Jackson at his home. Charged with two counts of robbery, he's being held without bond at the Adult Detention Center and has a July 31 court date.