Robbery suspect back after two years on the lam

October 3, 2015 at 12:02a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

An Alameda Avenue man on the run for almost two years from an aggravated robbery warrant is back in the city.

Naquel Gadson, 20, is in the Mahoning County jail after being found in Texas in early September. Jail records show he was booked into the jail Thursday.

Detective Sgt. Mike Lambert, who investigates robberies for the police department, said he has never had a suspect be on the loose for as long as Gadson.

“Usually, we end up getting them right away,” Lambert said Friday.

Court records show Gadson was indicted by a grand jury two years ago today on charges of aggravated robbery with a firearm specification and robbery. The charges are for the robbery of an Oak Street drugstore Dec. 28, 2012. The warrant for his arrest was issued Oct. 23, 2013, the day of his arraignment, which he was not present for in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Lambert said Gadson was caught in San Antonio, Texas, in early September, about a week after his brother Jarel Gadson, 20, also of Alameda Avenue, was taken into custody as a suspect in five robberies on the North Side. Jarel Gadson was indicted by a grand Thursday on five counts of aggravated robbery for those crimes.

Lambert said he did not know why Naquel Gadson was in Texas or how long he was there. He said U.S. marshals were able to track him down. A call to the marshals office in Youngstown on Friday was not returned.

In January 2012, Naquel Gadson, then 17, was arrested after police said he was involved in three robberies of drugstores in December 2011 and one in January 2012. In those robberies, Naquel Gadson would attempt to disguise his identity by various means, hand a note demanding money to a store employee and flee on foot after receiving the money, police said.

Naquel Gadson is expected to be arraigned Tuesday in common pleas court.