Wagers admits to robbing Corbin Taco Bell

 A London man has admitted to robbing the Taco Bell in North Corbin and another Laurel County business in exchange for a recommended 12-year prison sentence.

Thirty-four-year-old Jason A. Wagers pleaded guilty Friday in Laurel Circuit Court to two counts of first-degree robbery and five counts of unlawful imprisonment.

In return for the guilty plea, the plea agreement recommends Wagers be sentenced to 10 years in prison on the robbery charges and two years on the unlawful imprisonment.

Wagers was indicted by a Laurel County grand jury in November on the charges stemming from the Taco Bell robbery on Oct. 28, during which he fled with $996.91 after locking four employees in the freezer.

Laurel County Sheriff’s deputies were called to the restaurant on U.S. 25E about 7:24 p.m. after a customer came in and found the store empty and the cash drawers standing open.

The employees told deputies they had been forced inside the freezer by a lone gunman who had brandished a pistol.

The employees described the man as 5-8 to 6-0 tall, wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt with a bandana around his face.

Deputies were called to the Cash Xpress store on U.S. 25 about 10:30 a.m. on June 16, 2012.

The clerk told deputies that a white male in his mid 20’s, between 5’10" and 6′ tall and weighing about 190 pounds, came into the store, pointed a handgun at the clerk and demanded money.

Video surveillance shows the robber was wearing a black hoodie and ski mask, dark baggy blue jeans and black tennis shoes.

After the clerk gave him the money, the robber forced her into a back room and then fled the scene. The clerk was not injured.

According to the plea agreement, Wagers made off with $2,977.07 in that robbery

Laurel County Sheriff’s Deputy Gilbert Acciardo, the department’s public affairs officer, said in November that detectives were able to develop information that led them to suspect Wagers in the robberies. In addition, they learned that Wagers could be found at a residence on Hartmine Road off of Ky. 1223 in southern Laurel County.

On Nov. 3, deputies acted on that information. They found Wagers hiding in a utility room at the residence and took him into custody without incident.

Wagers’ legal ordeal in not over. Wagers and Ricky A. Vaughn, 23, were indicted in Whitley County On July 15 in connection with the robbery of a couple that was staying at the Landmark Inn in Corbin in September.

According to the indictment, Wagers was armed with a gun and Vaughn had a knife when they forced their way into the couple’s room and held them at gunpoint.

The robbers allegedly took $100 in cash, a laptop computer, a LG straight talk flip phone and jewelry belonging to the couple.

The couple later picked Wagers out of a photo lineup as one of the robbers.

An arrest warrant was served on Wagers at the Laurel County Detention Center on Feb. 24.

As part of the plea agreement in Laurel County, Wagers has agreed to testify in the Whitley County case.

Wagers is scheduled to be formally sentenced in Laurel County at 1 p.m. on Aug. 26.