Suspect in robbery of teacher outside Little Rock elementary school has 2 previous convictions

Curtis Willis
Curtis Willis

The 52-year-old Little Rock man accused of robbing an elementary school teacher on Friday was arrested last month on false imprisonment charges and has served federal time for bank robbery.

Curtis Eugene Willis is currently in the Pulaski County jail on aggravated robbery and theft charges stemming from his arrest Friday after the gunpoint holdup in the parking lot of Booker T. Washington Elementary School at 2700 S. Main St.

Police apprehended Willis at Schiller and 18th streets, about 2 miles away, by tracking the teacher's stolen cellphone. He was about a block away from his home at 2020 W. 17th St., arrest reports show.

For Willis, a conviction at trial on the aggravated robbery charge will mean a life sentence because he has two previous armed-robbery convictions.

In December 2003, Willis and another man, Eric Jordan, were arrested 11 minutes after they robbed the Metropolitan National Bank branch at 7401 Cantrell Road. In that heist, Willis went into the bank, announced he was robbing it and jumped over the counter.

Willis, who never showed a weapon, ordered employees to lie on the floor as he grabbed money out of the cash drawers. Jordan waited in the car, a red 1980 Chevrolet Cavalier.

Police searching for the car stopped it at 32nd Street and Fair Park Boulevard where officers seized the stolen money, a pistol and a gun magazine. Willis was also subsequently charged in a May 2003 gas station holdup.

Willis was indicted for the bank robbery the next month and pleaded guilty in May 2004. He was sentenced to five years in prison in October 2004. Jordan, now 34, pleaded guilty in January 2005 to robbery in state court in exchange for a 10-year sentence.

Willis pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery for the gas station robbery in November 2004 and received a 10-year sentence that ran concurrently with his federal time.

Court records show that on July 14, Willis was arrested at his home on felony charges of first-degree false imprisonment and aggravated assault on a family member with a misdemeanor count of domestic battering.. He was released on $10,000 bond five days later. Formal charges have not been filed. A copy of his arrest report was not immediately available.

But in an application for an order of protection filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court, Willis' girlfriend -- Christine Watkins, 25 -- stated that on July 14, Willis was supposed to give her a ride home but instead took her to his house, where he pulled a gun on her. Willis said he just wanted to talk to her but also threatened to kill her and himself. Watkins reported that she and Willis have been dating since May 2017.

Watkins stated that he pulled her hair, hit her and choked her before she could get out of the car and run. Willis pursued her as she went door to door trying to get someone to help her, Watkins wrote in her application, which is pending before Judge Cathi Compton. Willis caught her, pulled her back to the car by her hair and put her in the back seat, Watkins stated.

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Metro on 08/14/2018

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