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Detectives apparently solved the Monday night armed robbery of an Alcoa gas station – as well as three or more other armed robberies – when they nabbed a 26-year-old Rockford man on Wednesday

Alcoa Police Detective Sgt. Terry McGill said Wednesday that Jeffrey Allen Driggers, 26, Boulder Street, Rockford, confessed Wednesday to three armed robberies in Alcoa. He said Driggers has also been linked to an armed robbery of a gas station in Harriman and could also be connected to robberies in other jurisdictions.

McGill said Alcoa detectives will file at least one warrant late Wednesday night charging Driggers with aggravated robbery, and Harriman Police Department detectives have already filed one warrant charging Driggers with an Oct. 12 aggravated robbery. Charges are pending in the other two armed robberies in Alcoa.

McGill and Alcoa Police Detective Kris Sanders said they were able to connect Driggers to the robberies with the assistance of Blount County Sheriff’s Detectives Doug Davis and Mike Seratt and Harriman Police Detectives Tom Hogan and Jason Joseph.

Three Alcoa robberies

The most recent armed robbery that McGill said Driggers is connected to occurred Monday night at Mr. Gas Market (Texaco), 2670 Alcoa Highway, Alcoa.

Two clerks at the gas station reported that a short male entered the store, pointed a black semi-automatic handgun at them and demanded money. A clerk removed the tills from two registers and the suspect grabbed the money and fled, according to an earlier police report.

McGill said Driggers is also connected to two armed robberies that occurred Sept. 19 at Alcoa gas stations. Pilot gas station on Topside Road and Kenjo BP Market on Alcoa Highway were both robbed in the same fashion as Mr. Gas Market – with a suspect displaying a handgun – only two suspects were involved in those two incidents. McGill said Driggers was the suspect that displayed the weapon in both of those robberies.

McGill said with the help of Blount County and Harriman detectives, they were able to locate Driggers and picked him up in Loudon County. He was then taken to the Blount County Jail where he was being held for investigation and questioned by investigators.