Last night, we told you about the armed robbery which happened on Sunday afternoon at the Buca Shell Gas Station in Belmopan.
You'll remember the bungling burglar caught on camera as he failed to escape with the stolen money after one of the gas station attendants chased him down, and subdued him singlehandedly.
Well, police have identified him as 35 year-old James Escarpeta, a resident of Hattieville. After being released form the hospital, He was arraigned this afternoon in Belmopan, in front of Magistrate Janell Villanueva, for robbery, and keeping an unlicensed firearm.
He pleaded not guilty to both, even though the gas station's surveillance camera system captured his every move while he was holding up the employees. The Magistrate informed him that due to the nature of the charges, she couldn't grant him bail. She remanded him until the next adjournment on October 2nd.
As we reported, he showed up at the gas station at around 1:00 on Sunday, and headed into the convenience store, pretending to be a customer who wanted to purchase brake fluid. While the cashier was distracted, he pulled out a 9mm pistol and hid it. After making a move to head behind the counter, the cashier spotted his weapon, and he demanded that she hand over all of the money in the cash register. After trying to quickly collect the cash, he then went outside and held up 2 of the gas station pump attendants.
He then tried to hold several of the gas station's patrons hostage, and forced them to act as his get-away drivers. They jumped out their vehicles when he approached, and he then turned his attention to incoming traffic. He tried to stop 3 unsuspecting motorists who were driving past the gas station by threatening them with his weapon, but he was unable to get any of them to stop.
Finally, he attempted to escape on foot, but one of the attendants whom he robbed chased him down, and then fought with him for the weapon.
Remarkably, that employee managed to disarm and subdue him just in time for responding police to detain him. Court details indicate that the employee used his military training to actually dismantle the weapon into pieces, so that it would not be a threat to anyone.
The cops detained him and then took him to the hospital for a gunshot injury he suffered in the scuffle with the gas station employee over the weapon.
Escarpeta was described as a repeat offender, and our archives indicate that in March 2009, he was acquitted of the 2006 murder of deportee Kevin Parks, who was killed in a broad daylight shooting on Euphrates Avenue in Belize City. One of the 2 other victims who were also shot during that murder ended up paralyzed.
