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Robbery suspect hospitalized; says he smoked crack
Pharmacy clerk thwarted holdup try
Friday, July 10, 2009
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A Hollywood man identified by police as a suspect in an attempted holdup at a pharmacy and a robbery committed outside the store was arrested this week in a traffic stop and admitted to a hospital.
St. Mary's sheriff's deputies report that warrants have been obtained charging 32-year-old Jason Lawrence Yeatts with attempted robbery, robbery, theft and assault charges from Tuesday's incident at the CVS business on Route 235 in Lexington Park. Yeatts also is charged with the possession of cocaine, and police suspect he may have been suffering a drug overdose when they arrested him and took him directly to the St. Mary's Hospital.
Yeatts had his hand under his shirt when he entered the pharmacy earlier that day at about 5 p.m., and police allege that he told cashier Jessica Dawn Gorvan that he had a gun as he demanded money from the cash register. The cashier refused to comply with his demands, and he went back outside.
In the store's parking lot, police allege, Yeatts came up behind Lindsay Ann Robusto as she was walking from the business toward her car, and he had his hand under his shirt as he also told her that he had a gun and demanded her purse. The woman told police that the suspect pushed her to the ground during a struggle over the purse, and that he stole her wallet before driving away in a Ford sport-utility vehicle.
Sheriff's Cpl. M.A. Labanowski spotted the vehicle traveling north on Route 235 in California, the sheriff's office reports, and additional sheriff's deputies and Maryland State Police took part in stopping the vehicle. Yeatts was handcuffed as he was taken into custody without incident, and police determined that he did not have a handgun. Sheriff's deputies report that a search of Yeatts' travel route from the pharmacy found the stolen wallet near an intersection along the highway, and they also recovered a soft drink can that they suspect he used to smoke cocaine.
When Yeatts was arrested, police report, he said that he was having breathing problems, and he asked to be taken to the hospital because he had been smoking crack cocaine and had other health issues. Deputies stood guard over him at the hospital.
