Man, Suspected in 12 Armed Robberies Around Goldsboro, Arrested

Officers arrested Anthony Jerome Lee, 39, of Goldsboro, Thursday afternoon after two robberies were committed earlier in the day.

Lee robbed a truck driver in a Sam's Club parking lot at 3 a.m. and a convenience store on North Berkeley Boulevard around 6 a.m., said Sgt. Chad Calloway, with the Goldsboro Police Department. Lee faces charges for those two robberies.

Lee is also suspected in a string of 10 convenience store armed robberies that began in mid-March, Calloway said. He will likely be charged with those crimes Friday.

Those 10 robberies took place throughout Wayne County, including at least five in Goldsboro.

Tying them together was a distinctive sawed-off shotgun, with duct tape on its handle, that the robber used each time, police said. The robber also asked for a pack of Newport cigarettes and cash during each robbery.

He was believed to be working alone.

On Friday, Lee was charged with seven counts each of robbery with a dangerous weapon and possession of a weapon of mass destruction, nine counts of possession of a firearm by a felon and one count of second-degree kidnapping. The charges stem from the robberies of convenience stores at 1601 E. Ash St., 901 W. Grantham St., 2606 N. William St. and 600 N. Spence Ave., a laundromat at 306 N. Madison Ave. and of a man on Royal Avenue, authorities said.