Update:
The charges continue to mount against a Missouri father of three and his girlfriend who are sought in a crime spree that spanned at least three states over the past week.
Georgia authorities Wednesday said they have formally charged Blake Fitzgerald and Brittany Harper, both 30, in Monday's robbery of a Perry convenience store and the abduction of the 19-year-old clerk. The U.S. Marshal's Service has obtained a federal warrant against the pair for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, and the FBI issued a "Seeking Information" poster, officially announcing an ongoing probe into federal carjacking charges against Fitzgerald.
Also Wednesday, Missouri authorities released more information about the couple's possible crimes there before they headed south where police say they abducted three people in two days and attempted to rob another.
"I guess they see themselves as some kind of modern-day Bonnie and Clyde,'' said Missouri's Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Office Capt. David James. "They seem to be getting more and more desperate."
Fitzgerald and Harper are charged in three Alabama cities. In Vestavia Hills, Fitzgerald is charged with one count of first-degree burglary, one count of first-degree kidnapping and one count of first-degree theft of property. Harper is charged with one count of first-degree kidnapping and first-degree theft of property. In Hoover, both are charged with first-degree robbery. And, in Tuscaloosa, they are also charged with robbery, kidnapping and theft.
Perry Police Chief Steven Lynn said Wednesday his department obtained robbery and kidnapping charges against Fitzgerald, a convicted felon, and a kidnapping charge against Harper.
Both Fitzgerald and Harper are from Joplin, Missouri where Fitzgerald is no stranger to lawmen. He was arrested in Missouri in 2013 after police say he and another man robbed a 63-year-old woman at knifepoint, and again last year. He is currently on probation in Missouri, court records show.
Fitzgerald was charged in Jasper County Missouri in 2013 with felony first-degree burglary, vehicle tampering and theft. Police responded to the reported burglary at 2:21 a.m., according to The Joplin Globe. The 63-year-old female victim said the intruders were wearing cloth masks, broke into the house and robbed her at knife point, taking prescription medicine, cash and electronic equipment. They left in the victim's vehicle.
According to the Missouri publication, Fitzgerald was also arrested on a drunken-driving accident injured two people and destroyed a fence. The Joplin Globe said he received "shock prison time" in those cases. Shock imprisonment is a boot-camp type of program as an alternative to prison geared toward rehabilitation. Missouri police told AL.com Fitzgerald only spent 120 in prison on a seven-year sentence.
Last year, he received a suspended imposition of sentence for felony assault of another man at a nightclub. In that case, he pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in a plea agreement allowing probation but requiring the defendant to pay the victim's $17,596 in restitution.
Joplin police Cpl. Chuck Niess said Fitzgerald is a suspect in a Jan. 22 break-in at the home of a doctor. At least two guns were taken in the break-in, and police believe those are the guns Fitzgerald has used in the Alabama and Georgia crimes. There is also a burglary investigation underway from a break-in at Fitzgerald's grandmother's home in which he is also a suspect. Niess said he's not at all surprised at the accusations against Fitzgerald.
"This is exactly the same stuff he was doing here,'' he said. "The Joplin Police Department hopes he is caught quickly before he does harm."
Cape Girardeau County's James said Fitzgerald and Harper are suspects in two stolen car cases there. On Jan. 26, a black Cadillac was stolen from X-treme Powersports, a used car lot in Webb City, Missouri. Two days later, lawmen spotted the stolen Cadillac and tried to pull them over. They refused and the chase was on, James said. Ultimately, deputies lost sight of them.
Later that day, James said, the couple is believed to have broken into a Cape Girardeau home. The suspects gained entry to the home by smashing through a glass window. There was no one home at the time. They left the stolen Cadillac in the garage of that home, and stole the red Chevrolet Trailblazer that they would then drive to Alabama. James said the FBI in Missouri has been working with the FBI in Alabama.
No crimes between Missouri and Alabama have yet been reported. Once in Alabama, the couple stopped at Microtel Inn and Suites in Tuscaloosa. Fitzgerald and Harper, saying they were on their way to Florida, stopped in the hotel claiming to have run out of gas. They called a cab, went to the restroom, got coffee, and used the lobby computer to look up directions to Panama City, all the while making friendly conversation with 26-year-old night clerk Kyle Dease. Before long, however, they robbed the hotel of $300 and abducted Dease at gunpoint.
Dease chronicled his ordeal for AL.com, and said that during the nearly two hours Dease was with Fitzgerald and Harper, they told him they were trying to get to Florida to get married and start a new life together. Fitzgerald also told Dease he had no plans of returning to prison. With Dease in the backseat of his girlfriend's Volkswagon Jetta, the couple said they were looking for a fast car that would outrun police and stopped in Bessemer, but found nothing that appealed to them, Dease said.
Next, they stopped in Hoover where police say they tried to rob McDonald's manager Zora Harris of her vehicle as she arrived to work about 7:45 a.m. Harris screamed and threw her keys toward a coworker that was coming to her rescue, which frightened off Fitzgerald and Harper.
From there, they drove north on U.S. 31 and pulled into Montreat condominiums and apartments, where they set Dease free. But moments later, and less than a quarter of a mile away, police said Fitzgerald and Harper then kidnapped a Vestavia Hills wife and mother.
They noticed an opened garage door on Monte Vista drive, and Fitzgerald went in while the family was eating breakfast and getting ready for church. As the husband ran to call 911, Fitzgerald forced the wife at gunpoint into her own silver Ford Edge in the garage. They released her barefoot, but unharmed, on a side road near Grandview Medical Center off of U.S. 280.
Despite a massive search along the 280 corridor, police say Fitzgerald and Harper managed to get away. It would be more than 36 hours before they surfaced again.
About 11 p.m. on Monday, in the small city of Perry, Georgia, authorities say Fitzgerald went into a Murphy Express, picked up a soft drink, ask for cigarettes and then pulled a gun, demanded cash. After emptying the register, authorities said Fitzgerald escorted the 19-year-old female clerk to the Ford Edge stolen out of Vestavia and put her in the front seat. Harper was in the back seat. They released drove about 15 miles before release the clerk in a rural area off of another I-75 exit.
FBI spokesman Paul Daymond said the agency's Safe Streets Task Force is working closely with the U.S. Marshal's Service and local police. Marshals are offering a $10,000 reward for the capture of the couple.
They were last known to still be in the silver Ford Edge is 2720AG7. Authorities said if anyone sees the vehicle, they should notify the nearest authorities. The couple is considered armed and dangerous and shouldn't be approached.
www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2016/02/missouri_couples_crime_spree_s.html
