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Cell records link jail inmate to pizza delivery stickup

Jeremy Stephon Battle
Jeremy Stephon Battle

A 33-year-old Eustis man already behind bars for domestic battery is in more trouble after police used cell phone records to connect him to the armed robbery of a pizza delivery driver last October.

Jeremy Stephon Battle, who is listed as homeless in jail records, was charged Sunday with armed robbery and unlawful use of a two-way communications device. Battle, who has a long criminal rap sheet, has been in the Lake County Jail since Dec. 29, when he was charged with  domestic battery, resisting an officer without violence, and criminal mischief.

On Oct. 16, Eustis police responded to the report of an armed robbery in the 500 block of East Key Avenue. A Domino’s Pizza delivery driver said he arrived at the residence and did not approach the door because the yard was fenced. The driver called the number on the order but there was no answer. He said about two minutes later, a man emerged from the bushes on the east side of the residence with a full-sized shotgun, according to the arrest report.

The driver described the robber as a black male wearing a white mask, black long-sleeve shirt and black pants. He said the man told him to empty his pockets and drop everything on the ground. The driver emptied his pockets and dropped two $5 bills and one $10 bill on the ground. The man took the money along with the food and fled the area. The food was valued at $32, the report said.

The next day, the officer who was assigned the case spoke to the Domino’s store manager, who was not sure whether the order came in via phone or online order. The manager said when he was telling other co-workers about the robbery, another driver said the order looked suspect to him and he didn’t want to take it, according to the report.

Using the phone number from the order, the officer issued a subpoena to TextNow for account information, call logs,  message logs, media and IP addresses. The officer spoke with neighbors and was able to get dash cam video from a car parked on East Key Avenue. The video showed the delivery driver pulled up to the residence at 11:59 p.m. Three minutes later, the camera captured a man running north carrying a large item that appeared to be the size of the delivery bags carried by drivers, the report said.

On Oct. 30, the officer received cell phone records that contained calls and text messages. Using the call and text history, the officer was able to determine the phone belonged to Battle, according to the report.

After he was arrested on Dec. 29, Battle’s phone was collected and placed in storage at the Eustis Police Department. The officer tried to interview Battle on Dec. 30 at the jail, but Battle was uncooperative and left the interview room before answering any questions about the robbery, the report said.

The officer obtained a search warrant for Battle’s phone and, on Jan. 20, he received extraction results that showed the same TextNow account was used to place the order that led to the robbery. Based on this evidence, Battle was charged with robbing the delivery driver on Oct. 16, according to the report.

Battle is currently being held on $58,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Lake County Court on Feb. 21.

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