At 2 a.m. on Feb. 11, Lubbock police arrested Henry Clay Smith in an alley near Indiana Avenue and 82nd Street with more than $900 that had apparently just been stolen and a pellet gun he attempted to abandon, according to Lubbock police.
Corporal Jimmy Fair responded to a 911 call about an aggravated robbery outside a First Bank & Trust and arrested Smith, according to the police offense report.
The offense report noted that Kassandra Dominguez and Mark Mendoza were on their way to deposit more than $900 belonging to a local business when a man with a gun stole the bag of money.
In the 911 call, Mendoza said he was the assistant general manager at a Taco Bell. 
“As soon as I pulled up to the bank,” Mendoza said to the 911 operator, “some guy with a gun came out and told me to drop the bag and take off.”
He described the suspect to the operator as a man with light-colored eyes in a hooded sweatshirt and a blue bandana over his mouth and nose.
Smith was arrested for aggravated robbery at the scene, according to the police offense report.
A written statement by the Lubbock Police Department contends officers found an air pistol that Smith had attempted to abandon at the scene.
According to the jail roster, the 34-year-old is facing first-degree felony aggravated robbery charges. Currently, he is being held in the Lubbock County Detention Center on $250,000 bail.
Smith refused to comment on the charges without a lawyer present. At the time of his jail interview he did not have an attorney representing him.
Smith said he was working to reach local criminal defense attorney Laurie L. Key to assist in his defense.
Fair, the responding officer, said he was unable to discuss the robbery because it is a continuing criminal case.
However, he had a word of advice for the citizens of Lubbock.
“I think they should take care and precaution,” Fair said, “whenever they go off to the banks at late hours.”
About Jillian Coppage
