Police: Austin man linked to 4 robberies
Austin police have arrested a man and are looking for other suspects in a series of armed robberies in North Austin that started last month.
Lee Bell, 25, has been charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, a first-degree felony punishable with five to 99 years in prison.
He was not in the Travis County Jail on Friday, records show.
Police say Bell is one of several people involved in four robberies that occurred between Aug. 31 and Sept. 9 at the North Plaza Apartments near Rundberg Lane.
Police say the victims had responded to ads on the Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp and Letgo apps and websites from a seller called “Nevah Rodiguzes” to buy PlayStation game consoles and flat-screen televisions.
They were told to go to the apartments in the 9100 block of North Plaza, where they were robbed at gunpoint by someone wearing a ski mask.
The robber took their cash and other items, according to police officials and court documents.
Police said no one was seriously injured in the robberies, some of which were captured partly on surveillance video.
Bell was arrested Sept. 10 after police responded to the same apartment complex for an unrelated report of aggravated assault family violence, the arrest affidavit says. Bell was taken into custody without incident, police said.
Police said he matched the description of one of the robbery suspects and lived next door to the vacant apartment where the victims were lured to.
Items from the robberies were found in his and his girlfriend’s apartment, police said.
Authorities on Friday said they were still trying to identify and arrest the remaining suspects, who they described as men in their 20s ranging in height from 5-feet-8inches to 6-feet-3-inches tall. They were last seen wearing maroon or dark-colored clothing and dark-colored ski masks.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Austin Police Department’s robbery tip line at 512-974-5092 or Crime Stoppers at 512472-8477.
— MARY HUBER, AMERICAN-STATESMAN