MOBILE, Ala. -- A man with a lengthy criminal history led police on a chase down Moffett Road today after he robbed a Dollar General store at 7229 Moffett Road, police spokeman Cpl. Charles Bagsby said. Another Dollar General, at 7601 Three Notch Road, was robbed by two men at almost the same time, Bagsby said.
Melvin Jerome McCants, 42, of Prichard, is in Mobile County Metro Jail on charges of first-degree robbery and first-degree receiving stolen property, jail records show.
Bagsby said a patrol car was wrecked during the pursuit after McCants robbed a cashier at knifepoint about 3:30 p.m.
Court record
s show McCants pleaded guilty to another robbery last Sept. 25 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison with one year to serve and nine years suspended. He was given credit for time served back to his arrest the previous March, and was released this March, court records show.
McCants has had two other robbery cases go before grand juries, which did not indict in either case, court records show. A 2007 drug charge against McCants also was nol prossed, the records said.
In the Three Notch Road robbery, two men, one armed with a silver revolver, robbed a cashier and took a purse from a customer, Bagsby said. No arrests had been made as of late tonight.
