(June 3, 2008)--Augustine "Tito" Perez, 20, was arrested early Tuesday morning in connection with a series of carjackings and robberies in Waco.
Perez was in the McLennan County Jail Tuesday in lieu of bonds totaling $125,000.
He’s charged with evading arrest in a motor vehicle, two counts of aggravated kidnapping with a deadly weapon, aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, failure to identify, resisting arrest and search, evading arrest on foot, and assault, family violence.
Officers arrested Perez early Tuesday morning after attempting to pull over a car that failed to stop at the intersection of North 9th Street and Colcord Avenue.
The driver of the 1993 Buick Roadmaster didn’t stop, however, and officers pursued the vehicle to a residence in the 3600 block of North 25th Street, where the driver pulled into a driveway and fled on foot.
Officers caught him a short time later and discovered he had been wearing a gray wig.
By checking his tattoos, they were able to determine the man was Perez.
The kidnapping and robbery charges stem from incidents on May 21 and May 22.
In the May 22 incident, Joe Lewis, 34, was shot in the groin after the two men kidnapped him, forced him into the back seat of his 2007 Dodge Quad Cab, and drover him to the intersection of North 20th Street and Edna Avenue.
The men then drove off in Lewis’ truck, with his maroon 2007 Suzuki motorcycle in the bed.
Lewis made his way to a nearby residence and asked the homeowner to call police.
Officers responding to a report of a suspicious vehicle found the stolen truck with the motorcycle still in the back in an alley between the 2200 blocks of Alexander and Mitchell Avenues.
In the May 21 incident, Juan Salas of Waco told police he was about to get out of his vehicle in the area of South 12th Street and Gurley Lane when two men approached on foot, brandished a small pistol and forced him out of the truck.
Salas threw the keys of his black 1996 Chevrolet truck and ran to hide behind a nearby church.
As Salas was calling the police, he saw the men take his truck and drive north on South 12th Street.
Police pursued the vehicle, but the men escaped on foot after the truck crashed into a tree at the Brazos Place Apartment Complex in the 600 block of South University Parks Drive.
Two other suspects were already in custody in connection with the abductions and robberies.
Anthony Michael Garcia, 19, of Waco and Billie Jo Allen, 21, of Waco were arrested on May 22 after a traffic stop in Robinson.
They’re both charged in connection with the May 21 and May 22 incidents.
Garcia has also been charged with aggravated robbery in connection with the abduction and robbery of a 22-year-old Baylor University coed who was kidnapped at gunpoint by two men on May 17 as she walked in the 1400 block of James Avenue. She escaped her abductors by jumping from a moving vehicle, breaking both of her arms.
He’s held on bonds totaling $162,000.