Three persons arrested late Saturday night for targeting and robbing Latino residents at three Nashville apartment complexes are under investigation in more than a dozen similar robberies since mid-December.
Jerry Peden, 21, of Berkley Drive, Monterriouz Gooch-Cantrell, 21, of Mountain High Drive, and Brenda Arrington, 21, of Hickory Club Drive, are each presently charged with five counts of aggravated robbery and two counts of evading arrest. All three remain in jail.
Saturday night, officers were dispatched to robberies at apartment complexes on Whispering Hills Drive, Thompson Place and Patricia Drive between 8:37 p.m. and 9:02 p.m. The victims reported that two men, both armed with pistols, approached them at or near their vehicles and, in Spanish, demanded their belongings. The robbers were reported to have fled in a silver Nissan sedan.
Hermitage Precinct officers in the area of Thompson Lane and Murfreesboro Pike spotted a silver Nissan Altima after the third robbery and stopped the vehicle. When the officers asked the three occupants to get out, Arrington, who was driving, sped away. Officers pursued the car to Nolensville Pike near Harding Place, where Arrington, Peden and Gooch-Cantrell bailed out in the parking lot of the U.S. Post Office. The car continued rolling and crashed into a parked pickup truck. All three of its occupants were taken into custody after foot chases. Two pistols discarded during the chases were recovered.
During interviews with Violent Crimes detectives, the three admitted to committing the robberies Saturday night.
*Photos of the three are being withheld for now pending lineups in other case
