By Judy Reed
Jacob Abraham Savickas
Jacob Savickas, 33, the man who robbed the Cedar Springs Admiral gas station on July 27 and a string of other businesses here in Michigan and Ohio (including two banks) in the days that followed, has been offered a deal by the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office.
According to Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker, if Savickas accepts the deal, he will plead guilty to a bank robbery charge as a third-time offender and two other felony cases, which have yet to be decided. In exchange, prosecutors will dismiss all the other charges he faces in Kent County. The bank robbery charge involves the Independent Bank on Plainfield Ave, which he robbed on August 2.
Federal authorities have also agreed not to pursue charges for the bank robbery.
As of press time Wednesday, Savickas had not yet made a decision.
Savickas started his crime spree Wednesday, July 26, when he is suspected of an unarmed robbery of the J&H Mobil gas station at 4404 Clyde Park Ave., Wyoming. He then robbed the Admiral gas station on the corner of Main and Muskegon Street in Cedar Springs the next day, Thursday, July 27.
Police found him at the rest stop on US-131 near 10 Mile Rd., but after a brief foot chase, he got back into his car and sped away. Police pursued him, but terminated the chase on 10 Mile Rd. The Admiral clerk had reportedly told police that he had a small child with him.
Savickas drove to Indiana later that day, and is suspected of robbing two more gas stations that day in South Bend—the Marathon gas station on W. Western Ave, and Low Bob’s, 4505 N. Ameritech Dr.
The next day, Friday, July 28, Savickas is suspected of committing an unarmed bank robbery at the Beacon Credit Union, 820 North Broadway, in Peru, Indiana. On Tuesday, August 1, Savickas was back in Michigan, and is suspected of robbing the Next Door Food Store at 4616 Alpine Ave., N.W., where he struck the clerk with his vehicle. He is also suspected of robbing the Independent Bank, 3090 Plainfield Ave NE on Wednesday morning August 2.
Savickas was arrested at a Grand Rapids hotel on August 9 by the FBI Fugitive Task Force.
He is still lodged in the Kent County Correctional Facility on 10 charges in three different courts, including bank robbery, multiple counts of larceny from a person, fleeing and eluding a police officer, parole absconder, and being a habitual offender.
