Jefferson County District Judge Kim Bridgforth set a $250,000 bond after ruling prosecutors had probable cause to charge Carlton Farris, 28, with aggravated robbery and with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
According to a probable cause affidavit from Detective Steve Rucker, police were sent to Ollie’s Bargain Outlet in the Jefferson Square Shopping Center where a woman who had been shopping in the store said she had been robbed.
The woman said a man, later identified as Farris, grabbed her from the left side of her neck, choked her, then dragged her to the floor. As she held onto her purse, the man punched her in the face, got her purse, then fled. Detective Steve Rucker reported that the woman chased Farris on foot and then in her car until he reached McDonald’s, where he pulled a gun and pointed it at her. A witness told Rucker that the man had gone to the gas station across the street, and police located him inside Taco Bell.
He said he threw the woman’s purse at the back of the store but denied pointing a gun at her. Prosecutor’s reported that Farris was convicted of robbery in Texas in 2012 and just got off parole.
He was ordered at Tuesday’s court date to have no contact with the victim until the case is settled.
