Suspect in Naugatuck home invasion found in Georgia

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By Elio Gugliotti, Editor

Leequaje Jhadd Jackson-Brown

NAUGATUCK — Police caught up with a suspect in Georgia wanted in connection with a home invasion last May in the borough.

Naugatuck police arrested Leequaje Jhadd Jackson-Brown, 23, of Naugatuck, on a warrant Tuesday, after the Dekalb County Sheriff’s Office in Dekatur, Ga., extradited him back to Connecticut, according to police.

Deputy Police Chief C. Colin McAllister said police believed Jackson-Brown was in the Atlanta, Ga., area. He said borough police were working with U.S. Marshals to locate him when they got the call from the Dekalb County Sheriff’s Office that Jackson-Brown was in custody.

Jackson-Brown is facing home invasion, larceny and robbery charges in connection with a midday armed robbery on May 25, 2020, at a condo complex at 39 Horton Hill Road. Police said three armed men in masks robbed three women at gunpoint in a condo shortly before 12 p.m. Along with over $14,000 in cash, the men took dozens of high-end sneakers, three video game consoles and other items.

The owner of the condo wasn’t home at the time. The man told police at the time that he had received a large sum of money from a lawsuit settlement. He told police it was well known he got the settlement and sells high-end sneakers online.

No one was injured during the robbery.

Police tracked the suspects to Lakeview Avenue in Bridgeport using a cellphone taken from one of the women, according to the incident report.

As officers watched the area, four men in a gray 2010 GMC Acadia pulled up and got out of the SUV. One of the men put items into a gray 2006 Saab 93 that was parked on the road and another took a bank money bag out of the Saab.

The men drove off in the Acadia. Officers pulled the SUV over, but after initially stopping the driver sped off. About a quarter-mile later, the driver pulled down a dead-end street and three of the men took off on foot, while one remained in the SUV.

Police caught and arrested two of the suspects — Nasir Omari Blow, 23, and Jacarri Pettway, 21, both of Bridgeport — at the time. Blow and Pettway were both facing robbery, home invasion, larceny and conspiracy charges. Blow was also charged with carrying a pistol without a permit and carrying a dangerous weapon.

Blow pleaded guilty to carrying a pistol without a permit and the others were dropped as part of a plea deal, according to judicial records. He was sentenced in March and is serving two years in jail followed by three years of special parole. He also pleaded guilty in connection with a separate gun charge in Bridgeport, the sentence in that case will run concurrently to the term handed down in Waterbury Superior Court.

Pettway’s case is pending, according to online judicial records. He hasn’t entered a plea yet and his next court date is July 22.

The fourth suspect, Khalil Abdul-Hakeem, was shot and killed last July in an unrelated shooting in West Haven, according to media reports and police.

Jackson-Brown was held on a $50,000 bond to appear in Waterbury Superior Court on Wednesday.