The Central Store was robbed at gunpoint Friday night, and the prime suspect identified by Elmore County Sheriff’s deputies is a former police investigator with 11 years in law enforcement.
Jonathan Heard, a former investigator with the Roanoke Police Department in Randolph County, allegedly wielded a “semi-automatic pistol” and demanded cash from a cashier at the store around 6:30 Friday night, according to the Elmore County Sheriff’s Department.
According to victims and witnesses at The Central Store "9 miles north of Wetumpka on Alabama Highway 9” Heard came in asking for directions to Alexander City around 5 p.m.
Elmore County Chief Deputy Ricky Lowery said Heard returned an hour and a half later, pointed a handgun at the clerk, and left with “an undisclosed amount of currency.”
Roanoke Police Chief Adam Melton said his department did everything it could to cooperate with local investigators, despite their “shock and disbelief” that one of their own could commit such a crime.
“Our thoughts and prayers are, of course, with the victims and with (Heard’s) family,” Melton said Monday. “We’re praying that God holds their hand through this trying time, because this is just awful.”
A witness who saw the robber flee The Central Store in a Chevrolet Avalanche wrote down the truck’s license plate. After a license plate check identified Heard, sheriff’s deputies contacted Melton’s department. They confirmed Heard’s previous employment there, and verified the type of truck he drove.
“While the investigation was going on, we received information that another store was hit in Shorter, and we feel (Heard) is a suspect in that robbery as well,” Sheriff Bill Franklin said.
An Elmore County deputy who knew Heard called his cell phone not long after The Central Store hold-up, and Heard said he wanted to turn himself in, but needed to speak with an attorney first.
“Apparently, that was a ruse,” Franklin said.
A regional bulletin to “be on the lookout,” called a BOLO, was issued.
Lowery also spoke with Heard around 11 p.m. Friday, asking him to come in to talk about “something that happened in the county.”
Heard was apprehended in Biloxi, Miss., parking lot around 4 a.m. Saturday, Biloxi Police Investigator Susan Kimball said. He did not resist arrest, she added, and the handgun allegedly used in the crime was found in Heard’s truck. The former policeman is also suspected in a 2 a.m. robbery at an Exxon station in Moss Point, Miss., Kimball said.
Kimball said Heard is being held at the Harrison County Adult Detention Center. An extradition hearing was planned for Tuesday or today, she added.
Elmore County investigators were surprised to see the tag number lead to a former police officer, Lowery said, but since Heard allegedly “broke the law, we treated him just like any other suspect.”
Melton said Heard patrolled Roanoke in two stints totaling 11 years. A native of nearby Wedowee, he worked for the RPD from 1994-2000 and 2001-2006, before resigning to take a job with a neighboring sheriff’s department, Melton said.
“I’m just at a loss of words,” Melton said. “He had been one of ours, but I believe in punishment for what we do wrong. If we can do anything, for the victims, his family or for Jonathan, I’m happy to talk to whomever.”
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