TEXARKANA, Texas–Four people are facing charges in the armed robbery of a woman reportedly targeted after the woman styling her hair noticed she was carrying a large sum of cash.
The alleged victim told police after the robbery that she had just cashed her tax refund and was carrying $8,000 in cash in her purse along with about $65 she had tucked into her bra to pay for a hair appointment Feb. 24, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The woman who styled the alleged victim’s hair, another woman and the two men who allegedly pointed firearms at the robbery victim and her two children have each been charged in the case.
Kierra Laljuana Forte, 23, the hairstylist, Cornetta Nicole Thomas, 23, Samondre “Mon” Jaquan Lewis, 23, and Andre “Dre” Lamont Jones Jr., 33, are all currently in Bowie County custody. Lewis and Jones are the alleged gunmen while Forte allegedly told them about the cash in the woman’s purse and Thomas acted as an accomplice.
The robbery victim told investigators that Forte picked her up from near the house where she was getting her hair done in the 900 block of Richmond Road because she had trouble navigating a steep driveway in her car. The woman said that Forte would have been easily able to see the cash in a wallet in her purse while doing her hair and that she paid for the hair appointment with $65 she handed to Forte after pulling it from her bra.
Forte allegedly spoke with a man — later identified as Lewis — who was in the house before the appointment was over. Lewis reportedly began acting differently and said he was leaving to “take care of business” and told Forte “he loved her” not long before the hair appointment ended.
When Forte drove the woman and her children back to where she had left her car about a block away, two men wearing ski masks immediately approached on both sides of the car with guns. One of the men leaned over Forte on the driver’s side and allegedly said, “Bitch, give me your wallet or I’m going to shoot you.”
The woman told investigators that she “immediately recognized” the robber’s voice as belonging to the man — Lewis — who had been in the house on Richmond Road while she was getting her hair done.
The alleged victim said she had her purse with the wallet and cash tucked tightly under her right arm, but willingly handed it over when the men “pointed their guns at her children,” the affidavit said.
“The suspect also reached into her bra, where she had previously removed money from, and then fled the scene,” the affidavit said. “She stated that there was no additional money in her bra after she had paid for her hair.”
In reviewing body camera footage recorded by a patrol officer who responded to a 911 call after the robbery, investigators noticed that the robbery victim was “visibly shaken” while Forte leaned across her car and spoke to the officers “nonchalantly” and with an “extremely calm demeanor.”
During the robbery the men had not taken Forte’s cell phone even though it had been sitting on her lap throughout the holdup.
Noting that the armed men specifically targeted the woman’s wallet and bra and left a valuable cell phone behind, investigators suspected Forte was in on the robbery.
In the days that followed, investigators used video surveillance captured at area motels, cell phone data and recordings of jailhouse phone calls to connect all four suspects to the February robbery, the affidavit said.
Jail records show Forte had been released on bond but that it has been surrendered. Thomas is being held with bond set at $200,000. Jones’ bond is also set at $200,000.
Lewis is facing a second aggravated robbery charge for an armed stickup which allegedly occurred just days before the one involving the hair client.
A man reported Feb. 20 to police that Lewis, whom he called “Mon,” had been a friend of his in the past and that Lewis had recently contacted him, saying he wanted to get together and catch up, according to a probable cause affidavit. The alleged victim in that case reported that he and Lewis went to Findley Park in Texarkana, Texas, and that Lewis asked if he could handle the man’s firearm and shoot it into the woods.
The alleged victim reported that once Lewis had possession of his .40 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun, his friendly demeanor disappeared. The man reported that Lewis fired a few shots into the woods before turning and pointing the gun at him. As Lewis trained the gun on the alleged victim, another man got out of a car carrying an AR-15-style rifle.
The man said he heard several shots fired, noticed the dirt “kicking up” from bullet strikes around him, and heard the sound of projectiles whizzing by his head. The man ran into the woods to hide and called 911 shortly before Lewis and his accomplice fled in a car.
The cases have been assigned to 202nd District Judge John Tidwell.
If convicted of aggravated robbery, Lewis, Forte, Thomas and Jones face five to 99 years or life in a Texas prison.
