PHOENIX, AZ (December 19, 2012) – Jasper Jay Stewart (D.O.B. 12/16/79) has been sentenced to a term of 18 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections in connection with two separate incidents involving a carjacking and armed robbery. Stewart, a documented member of the Aryan Brotherhood/Nazi Lowriders gang, committed the offenses while on probation for four previous offenses ranging from drug possession to credit card theft.
“Thanks to diligent police work and aggressive prosecution, we have successfully cut short the criminal career of this repeat offender,” remarked Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery. “His prison sentence represents an appropriate and just result for the harm he has caused our community and underscores our commitment to maintaining public safety,” he added.
On September 7, 2012, Stewart approached an SUV parked near the 700 block of North Stapley Drive in Mesa containing a female driver and small child passenger, telling them “Get out of the car or I will kill you.” The woman and child exited the vehicle and Stewart drove away. Mesa Police responded to the victim’s 911 call and used OnStar to locate and disable the SUV, which was found less than three miles away. Based on a description provided by the victim, officers located Stewart as he was walking southbound on Stapley Drive and took him into custody.
Following Stewart’s arrest, police were able to connect him to an armed robbery that took place on August 28, 2012 in which he used a simulated weapon to threaten a woman as she was getting into her car after leaving a Starbucks on East McKellips in Mesa. Stewart demanded her cash and credit cards and grabbed her cell phone before fleeing the scene on foot. Police later tracked the cell phone to an address in Maricopa, where a person in possession of the phone stated he bought it from someone the day after the robbery while waiting for his urinalysis test at TASC, a facility that provides court-ordered drug testing and treatment services. A check of the TASC sign-in records confirmed that Stewart attended the facility on the given date. Both the robbery victim and the purchaser of the cell phone identified Stewart when shown a photograph of him.
Stewart was charged with one count of Robbery, one count of Theft of Means of Transportation and one misdemeanor count of Theft for the carjacking incident. A separate complaint charged him with one count of Armed Robbery and one count of Trafficking in Stolen Property for the earlier robbery. He pled guilty to all counts except the misdemeanor Theft charge, which the State agreed to dismiss.
The Honorable Scott McCoy sentenced Stewart to an 18-year prison term for the Armed Robbery count to be served concurrently with a seven year sentence for Trafficking in Stolen Property. For the carjacking offense, he was sentenced to concurrent terms of ten years for Robbery and seven years for Theft of Means of Transportation.
###