MURPHYSBORO
A Carbondale Police officer planned to burglarize the home of former Police Chief Bob Ledbetter and other Carbondale residences on the department’s
House Watch list before he was arrested, a detective testified Friday.
Detective Mike Ryan of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department said Officer James D. Gaddis revealed the plan to him nearly two hours after Gaddis was arrested in connection with the Oct. 9 armed robbery of First Southern Bank on Murphysboro Road in Carbondale.
The testimony came at a preliminary hearing for Gaddis at the Jackson County Courthouse Friday.
Gaddis has not yet entered a plea in response to the charges.
Interim Chief Jeff Grubbs said active officers have access to the list, which includes homes whose occupants will be absent for reasons such as vacations.
Grubbs said additional precautions have been taken to maintain security at homes on the list. None of the homeowners on the list have reported burglaries, he said.
Patrol officers check homes on the list three times a day until residents return, said Officer Randy Mathis, the department’s community resource officer.
Grubbs said he has complete confidence in the officers who still have access to the list, and that Gaddis’ actions should not reflect the entire department.
“Police put a positive spin (on the case) and put one of its own to justice,” he said.
Ledbetter did not return phone messages left Friday and Sunday.
Ryan said Gaddis confessed to planning the robberies because he was concerned for his family’s safety.
Ryan said Gaddis saw his neighbor, Anthony M. Fike, 35, of Murphysboro, sell drugs to an individual with a gun.
Before Gaddis’ preliminary hearing, Fike pleaded not guilty to the charge that he was the second suspect in the bank robbery. Fike turned himself into police Jan. 15 and has been released on bond.
Gaddis remains in Jackson County Jail on $1 million bond.
Ryan said Fike and Gaddis also planned to rob banks in Ziegler and Royalton, Gaddis’ hometown where he graduated high school as valedictorian.
The two men began discussing the robberies after seeing each other struggling to pay their water bills at Murphysboro City Hall, Ryan said.
Lt. Paul Echols, who heads the Carbondale Police Department’s investigations, said dispatchers received a 911 call 10 minutes before the First Southern Bank robbery. The caller identified himself as someone who had been stabbed and was being chased by a gunman. Echols said most of the police officers on duty responded to the call, but “no one was ever found.”
Carbondale detectives noted that the voice on the 911 call sounded similar to Gaddis, Echols said. The call, which was made by cell phone and lured most officers on duty to the opposite side of town from the bank, was traced to where Fike said he and Gaddis met before the robbery, Echols said.
Following the robbery, Echols said he viewed the bank’s security footage and could see part of one suspect’s face.
“The eyes and eyebrows were consistent to those of Jim Gaddis,” Echols testified.
Echols said he became more suspicious when he noticed the weapon used by the suspect, a Glock 22, was the same handgun model police officers carry.
Ryan said Gaddis confessed to using his service weapon in the robbery.
Of the $22,800 stolen from the bank, nearly $4,000 was recovered from Fike’s home, Ryan said. Gaddis had taken the money to a casino, where he exchanged it for unmarked bills, Ryan said.
A hearing to set a trial date is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. March 11.
_____
Other Information: http://www.southernillinoisan.com/articles/2009/02/01/front_page/27968896.txt
Previous Information: http://whathappenedtoprotectandserve.blogspot.com/2009/01/officer-james-gaddis-neighbor-rob-bank.html
No comments:
Post a Comment