Former Iowa Central Community College security guard arrested in kidnapping plot
Buena Vista County IA January 12 2020
A former security guard for Iowa Central Community College is accused of aiding four former student athletes in a 2018 kidnapping and armed robbery — a drug deal that went wrong.
Spencer Jackson, 29, was arrested Tuesday by a Buena Vista County deputy at the Webster-Calhoun county line. He faces four accessory after the fact charges, aggravated misdemeanors, stemming from the May 2018 incident.
Criminal complaints allege that Jackson aided the four students implicated in the pot robbery by acting as a mole within Iowa Central’s security team, directing the students away from campus while police investigated.
The former rugby player for ICCC was implicated through “numerous conversations” with them as reflected in phone records, the Buena Vista County Sheriff’s Office said.
Three of the defendants — John Hankerson, Jerrick Crosby-Fisher and Ammari Johnson — have since been convicted and were sentenced to prison terms on robbery and kidnapping charges after the Albert City robbery of two pounds of marijuana and $3,800 cash.
Charges against the fourth defendant, Jerome Roberts, have been suspended, pending a restoration to mental competency. He’s scheduled for a hearing on Monday because officials with the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Oakdale have reported he’s been restored.
The crime started on Fort Dodge’s Iowa Central campus. There, Buena Vista County authorities said, an Albert City man, acting as an intermediary between the marijuana dealer and the students, was forced to drive them to Albert City at gunpoint by Hankerson.
At 120 Flower St. in Albert City, Hankerson pistol-whipped two Albert City residents before stealing the weed and cash. A maroon Chevrolet Impala, waiting to transport Hankerson and Roberts from the scene, sped out of Albert City in waning daylight.
“We believe they had assistance,” said Buena Vista County Attorney Paul Allen in a recent interview with The Storm Lake Times. “There was someone who knew what was going on, who helped coordinate their movements. Someone who knew where certain people were at certain times.”
Jackson was employed part-time as a work-study student at Iowa Central from February to October 2018, according to the college’s human resources department. His employment was terminated by Iowa Central.
“We took the incident seriously and cooperated with the Fort Dodge Police Department and other law enforcement during the course of the investigation,”college President Dan Kinney told The Times. “Anybody involved in the incident is either no longer enrolled or was terminated from employment.”
The extent of the relationship Jackson forged with the defendants is unclear. Court documents say Jackson called all of the defendants before and after the robbery, but they donít list the times or the nature of their conversations.
Buena Vista County Sheriff Kory Elston declined comment on whether they received assistance from others in the Fort Dodge area.
Jackson is scheduled for an initial appearance Jan. 27. in Buena Vista County. Jail records say he posted a $2,000 bond after he was arrested.
