Search History Ties Tuscaloosa Man to 2 Armed Robberies from July

A Tuscaloosa man already jailed on an unrelated matter has been charged with two counts of first-degree robbery after investigators allegedly found incriminating info in his search history.

The suspect, 20-year-old Jailyn Travon Hester, was arrested on July 18th and charged with unlawful breaking and entering into a vehicle.

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Tuscaloosa Police Officers have also been investigating two separate but similar armed robberies earlier in July.

According to court documents filed Friday, in the first case, a man with a handgun robbed a gas station on Veterans Memorial Parkway in Tuscaloosa on July 8th.

Police said an armed robber jumped on the counter and threatened to shoot the clerk before taking off with around $700.

Two days later, a similarly described man reportedly held up a cell phone store on East University Boulevard and stole another $200 - $300.

After Hester was arrested for the UB&E charge, investigators developed him as a suspect in the robberies and found surveillance footage that helped corroborate the theory.

In both cases, though, Hester's own search history allegedly played a key role in justifying the robbery charges.

According to the depositions filed Friday, Hester searched "What the most a gas station makes a day?" before the service station was robbed. He also reportedly searched "Metro by T-Mobile iPhone stock" before the cell phone store stickup.

Hester, still jailed on the car break-in charge, now also faces two counts of first-degree robbery. Both carry a bond of $60,000, and Hester's total bond is now set at $135,000.