State-Journal.com - Man suspected in home invasion caught after 3 months on the run

Johnathan Jackson

The third man suspected in the Tierra Linda home invasions in March was in court Friday after he’d been missing for three months.

Johnathan Jackson, 28, 142 Centennial Ave., had pleaded not guilty in May to a robbery charge and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm in the home invasions on Fiesta Way and Maverick Trail in March.

Jackson was scheduled for arraignment Friday, but Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate noticed he’d already been arraigned before he went missing.

Jackson’s accomplices, Justin I. Beasley, 21, and Jeffrey A. Wheat, 20, both of 35 Ashwood Court #15, were each sentenced to 15 years earlier in October. Beasley entered an Alford plea – which admits there’s enough evidence to convict but not necessarily an admission of guilt – and Wheat pleaded guilty.

Jackson was out on a $1,000 bond and went on the lam in July. Police didn’t catch up to him until Oct. 20. Frankfort Police Maj. Fred Deaton said police got information that Jackson was in the Landings Drive neighborhood and began surveillance.

At around 5 p.m. Oct. 20, police spotted Jackson on Landings Drive, Deaton said. When Jackson saw the officers, he fled on foot. Officers chased Jackson down and arrested him, Deaton said.

Police say Jackson drove Beasley and Wheat to the homes of Samantha Conway, 23, of Fiesta Way, and Lenual Martin, 48, of Maverick Trail, in a borrowed 1989 maroon Chevrolet van.

The two men then robbed the two victims at gunpoint and took money and electronics. Police arrested Jackson when they found him in the van near the scene of the crimes. Police found an unloaded shotgun in the van.

Officially, Jackson is charged with complicity to commit robbery and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He’s in Franklin County Regional Jail today on a $25,000 bond.

In other court action Friday:

>Robert Solomon, 36, 113 Elizabeth St., was convicted of wanton endangerment, receiving stolen property and sentenced to 10 years.

Solomon was found walking down Hickory Drive with a 9mm Glock handgun Feb. 21. When police approached him, Solomon pointed the gun at the officers and said, “I will kill you,” a police report says.

Police subdued Solomon and arrested him. -When officers searched him, they found a baggie of crack cocaine. Solomon’s handgun was reported stolen and having a handgun violated a domestic violence order against him.

Solomon pleaded guilty but mentally ill Sept. 25 and will receive a mental health evaluation, Wingate said.

>Robert Cirillo, 36, 914 Holmes St., pleaded guilty to growing and selling marijuana within 1,000 yards of a school. Police say they received an anonymous tip in March and searched Cirillo’s home March 6.

Officers found 10 marijuana plants growing in Cirillo’s basement and Cirillo admitted there was more marijuana upstairs, a police report says.

Police found four one-ounce bags, four quarter-ounce bags and one half-ounce bag of marijuana upstairs along with digital scales, many clear plastic bags and a marijuana crusher.

Cirillo’s home is near the Thorn Hill Learning Center and he will be sentenced Dec. 11.

>Two drugs dealers arrested during the August drug sweep were convicted of drugs charges and given five years probation.

Justin Sams, 23, 819 Brawner St., and Carolyn Lindle, 47, 140 Landings Drive #10, were arrested along with 12 others after controlled drug buys.

Sams sold $300 worth of hydrocodone and methadone to a confidential informant between February and March, a police report says. He has another theft case pending in Arkansas, public defender Clay Wilkey said.

Lindle sold $400 worth of Lortabs and methadone to a confidential informant in March, a police report says.

Lindle, who suffers from brain cancer, will be allowed to live with family in Providence, Ky., Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd said.

>Larry Carter, 28, 2090 Louisville Road, pleaded not guilty to charges of swallowing a bag of marijuana.

Police went to serve warrants for Carter on Leonardwood Drive Sept. 16, a police report says. When Carter saw police coming, he fled but was caught not long afterward, police say.

When officers put his left hand behind his back to handcuff him, Carter grabbed inside the front of his pants with his right hand, pulled out a bag, and swallowed it, the report says.

Carter later admitted at the jail the bag he swallowed contained marijuana, the report says.

He is in Franklin County Regional Jail on a $1,000 bond.