TARBORO – Erick Jonquan Speight, age 20 of Ahoskie, is behind bars here, accused of using a firearm while stealing cash and a cell phone from a college student.

According to the Tarboro Police Department’s Facebook page, at around 11:45 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 6, officers with the Tarboro Police Department responded to the parking lot of River Oaks Shopping Center in reference to a robbery from a person that had already occurred.

Upon arrival officers learned that the victim, a college student from Raleigh, arranged to meet two individuals from Ahoskie to engage in an illicit exchange. During the exchange, one of the suspects from Ahoskie produced a handgun and demanded money from the victim. In doing so, the suspects took an undisclosed amount of money in addition to the victim’s iPhone.

While processing the information, Tarboro Police Officer Matt Boyette received permission from the victim to track his phone using Apple’s public tracking software. After receiving permission, Boyette was able to locate the phone in Ahoskie.

Based upon this information, Tarboro Police Sergeant Mike Trevathan made contact with a law enforcement associate in Hertford County who relayed the information to Ahoskie Police officers. In doing so, the vehicle in question was located and one of the suspects, Speight, was taken into custody.

The firearm used during the robbery as well as the victim’s iPhone was recovered from the vehicle.

Several officers from the Tarboro Police Department then travelled to Ahoskie to assist with searching for the second suspect as well as to secure Speight for further investigative purposes. Nevertheless, the second suspect could not be located.

Speight was then transported back to Tarboro where he cooperated with investigators. He was then placed under arrest and charged with one count of Robbery with a Dangerous Weapon after which he was secured in the Edgecombe County Detention Center under a $25,000 bond.

The investigation into the second suspect continues.

The Tarboro Police thanked the Ahoskie Police Department for their assistance during this investigation.