Man arrested for armed robbery after allegedly stealing Xbox and gun during Gainesville Marketplace sale
Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Jamarri Alley Thagard, 18, was arrested last night and charged with armed robbery after allegedly stealing an Xbox and gun at gunpoint during a Gainesville Marketplace transaction.
The victim told a Gainesville Police Department officer that he went to Tiger Bay Apartments at about 8:54 p.m. last Wednesday night after a Facebook account (later deleted) offered to buy an Xbox he had advertised for sale on Gainesville Marketplace.
The victim’s car is reportedly equipped with front and rear cameras that capture audio, and the cameras reportedly showed two black male suspects approaching his car from the rear. One suspect wore a white hoodie, tan pants, and bright yellow slides. The other suspect wore all black, with red shoes and a face mask.
The suspect wearing a white hoodie put a gun to the victim’s head and threatened to kill him, then the suspects stole the victim’s Xbox, $200 in cash, and a tan Taurus handgun; they also forced the victim to send $500 via CashApp to a specific account. The suspects then fled on foot.
The victim searched Instagram for users with an account name matching the CashApp account name and showed the officer an account that showed a picture of Thagard; the profile picture for the CashApp account also appears to be Thagard. Thagard reportedly previously lived at the address that was given to the victim for the transaction.
Officers reportedly found Thagard at a different address at Tiger Bay Apartments yesterday; at the time of his arrest, he was reportedly wearing bright yellow slides that matched the slides seen in the victim’s car video. After receiving consent to search the apartment where Thagard was arrested, officers reportedly found the victim’s stolen gun.
Thagard has been charged with robbery with a deadly weapon, grand theft of a firearm, possession of a firearm by someone who was convicted as a juvenile of a crime that would be a felony for an adult, and unlawful use of a two-way communications device.
Thagard was convicted of burglary as a juvenile in January 2021. He was booked into the Alachua County Jail in December 2023 on charges of child abuse and battery by a person detained in a prison or jail facility; he was released after a judge ruled on January 23, 2024, that he had been held for 40 days and no official charges had been filed. The charges were dropped the next day.
Judge George Wright set bail at $70,000 on the new charges.
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.
You put a gun to someones head, threaten to kill, rob them, and this is the low ass bail they set. Gangsville judges strike again.
18 and a well seasoned criminal already.
“he was released after a judge ruled on January 23, 2024, that he had been held for 40 days and no official charges had been filed. The charges were dropped the next day.”
Sounds like the DAs office screwed this up.
Yes, once again law enforcement does their job of apprehension and arrest. The state attorney and judges fail Alachua County again. Young Jamarri is well on his way to the profession of career criminal. Unfortunely this Facebook ripoff/robbery seems to be a new trend. Maybe Jamarri will not be so lucky next time and meet a more tactical sound 2A citizen.
What an idiot with the cash app deal. Haha.
Attention city commissioners!!! Here’s the gun violence problem you are so desperately trying to solve!! This guy will be back out on the mean streets of east Gainesville in no time. $70k bail for a gun point robbery is ridiculous. Should spend 10-15 years in prison for this.
This is how system makes their money 🤷♀️
This is about the 12th time we have seen this scam run. People need to get wise to this crap.
That’s probably why the guy had cameras everywhere and homeboy is sitting in jail.
Gun control only works in only two ways. 1. If you are a law abiding citizen willing to give up 2A rights. 2. If you use it control crime.
Damn if u carry a gun know when to use it and not have someone take it from you wtf dude needs to re learn a thing or 2 about transactions with people u don’t know …
This punk needs to be locked up for awhile
This Thagard fella is a menace to society. He is one who you could adequately label a “super predator”. I wouldn’t let him out a day before he turns 30, and my guess is that once released he’ll then be out for a year before doing this again and finally be locked up for the remainder of his life.
Sadly, I think you’re right. 18 years old and he’s certainly on the wrong path. Great parenting- or the lack there of.
18 and Eastside, not a promising future area for a new Publix 🥺
Before selling to someone on Marketplace, check the buyer’s profile and THEN, ALWAYS, click the search button on Alachua Chronicle and type in their name. You’ll be glad you did.
Also, never meet someone after dark, always go to a public meeting place, and take someone with you. Don’t go alone! I’m not trying to blame the victim. I just don’t want this to happen to anyone else. This is at least the third story like this that I have seen in the past two months. Maybe GPD or ACSO could set up exchange areas? I’ve heard about that in other cities.
What a waste of Law enforcement resources that would be. You would need to hire an additional 20 officers just to cover man power issues through out a week. If we are going to hire more law enforcement which we need to do they would be better used in apprehension of criminals instead of city run market service department. Yes meet in the Police Department public parking lot or other trusted location with several witnesses around .
Why do you think someone who steals has $7,000 lying around? That is a high bail amount for someone who has no money. I assume he has no money since he was stealing things. If he was rolling in it, then he could buy his own Xbox.
Earth to OC….. there are a huge amount of criminals running around with more money in the their pockets than most people make in a week. Unfortunely your additude and mindset is the reason that this county allows these animals to walk. Yes Sir you got Sunday’s golden idiot award.
At least I can make comments without calling people animals or idiots.
Ok I’ll try not to use phrases of animals. We need to stop the game of catch and release and start culling the tribe.
Another example of this culture. This thug is a loser that the rest of us will be supporting the rest of his miserable life. Give him hard labor while serving prison time.
His grandmother must be so proud of him.
First mistake is the victim agreed to meet at Tiger Bay… Second is that he didn’t smoke that idiot with the Taurus.
We don’t have to live with this. We don’t have to accept this. Soon, the world will rediscover the will to deal with scum. We can pass laws to put down dogs like this. Perhaps, as a deterrent, we pass laws to put down their closest kin too.
This is so sad. Now with this record, he cannot pass a background check, and NASA loses out the services of another future rocket scientist. We’ll never get back to the moon at this rate.