Gainesville man charged with robbery of two pharmacies in February 2023
Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Jaquil Chamara Williams, 29, has been charged with two armed robberies in February 2023, a Walgreens on February 4 in Keystone Heights and a CVS on February 13 in High Springs. Williams has been in the Alachua County Jail for nearly a year after being arrested on March 7, 2023, and charged with the February 20, 2023 armed robbery of the Walgreens on NW 43rd Street. In each incident, the suspect entered the restricted employee area of the pharmacy and demanded Oxycodone, Promethazine, and other medications while claiming to have a gun.
The High Springs robbery was one of a string of pharmacy robberies in Alachua and Clay Counties between November 18, 2022, and February 27, 2023, and a Clay County Sheriff’s Detective filed an affidavit on February 29, 2024, laying out the evidence against Williams.
After Williams was arrested last March, Gainesville Police Department obtained a search warrant for his phone, and the location information on the device reportedly placed Williams at the Keystone Heights pharmacy on February 4 and at the High Springs pharmacy on February 13, along with the Gainesville Walgreens on February 20. Numerous text messages reportedly referred to slang terminology for narcotics, and some text messages discussed plans to commit some of the robberies.
A white Hyundai Elantra or similar small white sedan was seen by witnesses in Keystone Heights and Gainesville, and the sedan seen in High Springs was described as gray in color; Williams allegedly fled from a vehicle matching that description on the night he was arrested.
The arrest report notes that no similar pharmacy robberies have been reported since Williams was arrested last March.
Williams has been charged with two counts of unarmed robbery, on top of the previously-filed charge of robbery connected with an organized criminal enterprise. He has five felony convictions (one violent) and seven misdemeanor convictions (two violent) and has served one state prison sentence, with release in May 2022.
Judge Luis Bustamante recommended bail of $1,000,000 on Williams’ arrest warrant, but the State Attorney’s Office filed notice of intent to request pre-trial detention without bail, and Judge Susan Miller-Jones ordered Williams held without bail until the motion is heard. Williams was already being held on $500,000 bail on the previous case.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
I don’t know of a sentence that could possibly be long enough for Jaquil. He not only committed armed robbery multiple times, but he was stealing substances that he knew he could profit from and ultimately kill people with. He’s an American Terrorist and he will now claim he did this because he had a drug problem to get leniancy. If you believe that lie then I’ve got some oceanfront property in Kansas to sell you. Anything less than Life is not long enough for Jaquil.
Good. Glad he’s been charged.
Why did it take a year for charges to brought and has the SA screwed up, again?
Throw the book at this criminal. He’s not going to change his behavior.
But not steal any smart pills? At 29 you have to wonder… 🤪
Glad he got that neck & face tattoo so he can be easily identified‼️
Five prior felony convictions, and this man is allowed to walk around on the streets? Why isn’t he in prison for life without the possibility of parole? In case the judicial system hasn’t heard, the way to lower the crime rate is to put criminals in prison – for very long, long sentences. In some cases, and this class is clearly one, this man has demonstrated clearly that he cannot live amongst society, so he needs to be imprisoned for the rest of his natural life.
Thank you to The Chronicle for posting these mugshots of those who are a threat to our community. The Gainesville Sun and most other liberal newspapers quit publishing mugshots years ago. I guess they were afraid the lemmings might actually see who is responsible for all the ‘equity’ behaviors.