Man charged in Jackson package store robbery appears in court

JACKSON, Tenn. — The man accused of robbing a package store in east Jackson faced a judge Friday.

DeCarlos Taylor appeared in Jackson City Court on Friday facing multiple counts. “You’re charged with aggravated robbery, criminal trespass, evading arrest, tampering with evidence,” Jackson City Court Judge Blake Anderson said.

Taylor is accused of robbing Eastgate Discount Beer and Tobacco on Whitehall Street on Thursday morning. “Produced a small, silver handgun from his pocket and demanded money from the cash registers,” Anderson read from an affidavit.

WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News was there when officers took him into custody about two hours later at an abandoned house on Labelle Street. Police said they also found a shirt in the house the same color and style the suspect wore in the video from the robbery. Officers said they also found cash wrapped in a dress stuffed in a toilet.

“The officers located $435 in cash at 44 Labelle,” Anderson read from the affidavit.

According to an affidavit, Taylor confessed to robbing the store and hiding the money. “He also provided a hand-written confession admitting to the robbery using the gun,” Anderson read from an affidavit.

This is not Taylor’s first encounter with the law. Court documents indicate police arrested him on a vandalism charge earlier this year. According to an affidavit, the suspect is accused of vandalizing his girlfriend’s vehicle in May during an argument.

“Pending bond’s canceled,” Anderson said.

The judge ordered Taylor be held and set a new $75,000 bond.

Taylor is currently being held at the Madison County Jail. He is scheduled to return to court July 20.