By Waverly McCarthy
BRANDON, MS (WLBT) - Four people, including a 14 and 15-year-old, were arrested for the armed robbery of a 17-year-old in Brandon.
On Monday, Dec. 24, at 2:19 a.m., the Brandon Police Department was notified of a partially clothed teen walking down Louis Wilson Drive.
The 17-year-old victim told responding Brandon PD officers that he had just been robbed at gunpoint in a gravel lot off Kennedy Farm Parkway near the soccer fields at Shiloh Park.
The teen told officers that a woman named Kayla, later identified as 18-year-old Kayla Rae Ainsworth, picked him up from his home and drove him to this gravel lot, where three men wearing bandannas came out of the woods nearby. The teen said the three men drug him out of the car, assaulted him and put a handgun to his head, then robbed him of his cell phone, money, and pants.
The three men then got into the vehicle with Ainsworth and drove away. The teen victim sustained minor non-life threating injuries.
Brandon police officers located the suspect’s vehicle on West Sunset near Cherry Hill and Kayla Ainsworth was taken into custody. The items stolen from the victim were located inside Ainsworth’s vehicle.
Further investigation revealed the identity of the three male suspects, one adult and two juveniles, who Ainsworth had dropped off after the robbery. The adult male suspect was identified as 18-year-old Quenteris Dashone Taylor. The three male suspects were taken into custody shortly thereafter.
Brandon police investigators determined that Ainsworth and Taylor conspired together, and Ainsworth intentionally lured the teen victim into riding with her to Shiloh Park, where Taylor and a 14 and 15-year-old were waiting. Evidence linking the three suspects to the robbery was recovered during their arrests. The gun used in the commission of the armed robbery was also recovered.
The two adult suspects, Ainsworth and Taylor, were each charged with armed robbery and taken to the Rankin County Jail with bond set at $250,000. Upon further investigation, Taylor was additionally charged with two counts of directing or causing youth to commit a felony.
Ainsworth and Taylor are scheduled to appear before Judge Adams in Brandon Municipal Court on Wednesday, January 9, 2019.
The two juvenile male suspects, aged 14 and 15, were charged with armed robbery and taken to the Rankin County Juvenile Detention Center, where they will appear before Judge Broome.
The Brandon Police Department does not publicly release identifying information on juvenile suspects, or victims of crimes.
Copyright 2018 WLBT. All rights reserved.
