17-year-old held on $150,000 bail
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A Las Vegas teenager faces 70 charges connected with a string of store robberies and a carjacking, where he later posted a photo of the stolen car on Instagram, the 8 News Now Investigators have learned.
Damahja Lofton, 17, is charged with 15 counts of robbery, 12 counts of conspiracy to commit burglary and several counts of robbery and other charges totaling 70, records showed. The majority of the charges are felonies.
Throughout October, a group has targeted drug and convenience stores across the east Las Vegas valley and Henderson, police said. The suspect would bring an item worth about a dollar to the cashier to purchase, and then jump over the counter to steal money from the register, police said. In addition to money, the suspects would also steal tobacco products.
After each robbery, the suspect would run to a waiting car near the business, police said.
In one incident at a CVS on Oct. 11, the suspects shoved and hit a cashier, knocking off her glasses, police said.
After another robbery, police obtained surveillance video of a suspect vehicle, but it had no visible license plate, police said.
On Oct. 16, a woman was walking to her apartment on Sahara Avenue near Hualapai Way when a group of men jumped her and stole her car, police said.
Lofton later posted a photo of himself with the stolen car on Instagram, police said. OnStar, a vehicle security service, later located the vehicle at Lofton’s apartment complex on Sahara Avenue near Nellis Boulevard, police said.
Police later located the suspected getaway vehicle from the first series of robberies in a parking lot. The car’s owner told police he loaned it to Lofton.
A judge set Lofton’s bail at $150,000.