Mitchell Man Arrested for Attempted Robbery and Battery Resulting in Bodily Injury

(BEDFORD) – A Mitchell man was arrested Thursday afternoon on numerous felony charges after warrants were issued for his arrest.

Jeffery Waggoner

Bedford Police officers arrested 53-year-old Jeffery Waggoner on charges of battery resulting in serious bodily injury, battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery, attempted robbery, possession of marijuana.

“Our department has been looking for Waggoner for a few weeks because of the active warrant,” said Chief Terry Moore. “We received information where he was staying. Officers went to that address, located and confirmed the warrant. Before transporting Waggoner officers located what later tested positive for marijuana in his pocket.”

Attempted Robbery at Jackson County Bank

According to a probable cause affidavit filed by Bedford Police Detective Sgt. Kye Louden on September 1, 2017, the Bedford Police Department received a 911 call from an employee at Jackson County Bank stating that they had just been robbed.

The employee told police a man wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt and shorts with a bandage around his head over his left eye and a maroon ball cap entered the bank, demanded money and then fled south across 16th Street.

A teller told police the male approached her and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper out of his front pocket. He unfolded the paper and held it up for her to read. The note told her to put all the money in a bag and no one would get hurt. He then held the note closer and told her to read it again. She then told him to take off his ball cap and he shook his head no and turned to walk from the bank.

Officers from both Bedford and Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department flooded the area in an attempt to locate the male but could not find him.

Detectives reviewed the bank’s security surveillance video system and took DNA samples from the counter where the man had placed his hands while speaking to the teller. Those samples were sent to the Indiana State Police Lab for testing.

A customer at JayC Plus Fuel told police that he saw the man walking in the area of Tractor Supply toward the bank and then come running out of the bank shortly after.

On Sept. 2, 2017, police received a call reporting they had found evidence in Edgewood Addition that may be linked to the attempted bank robbery. The male told police that he found the items in his yard and thought it was suspicious. He told police he found the items near a stone pile at the rear of his property, picked it up and placed it in the trash can. He then thought about it and called the police.

Police recovered the note used in the attempted robbery in addition to some gauze bandages. The note stated – “I HAVE A Gun put money in the Bag No Tricks And No one will Get Hurt”. The items were sent to the ISP Lab for DNA testing.

Police spoke to neighbors in the 100 block of Northwood Drive who told them that they had video cameras that might have captured the male suspect. The video did show a male running from the property toward IU Health Hospital.

A TASC bus driver also alerted police that they may have video footage of the male when he ran in front of the bus on 16th Street and then turn into Edgewood Addition. The bus video captured the suspect riding his bicycle north from the access road and cutting through the Lowe’s Parking lot.

Officers also obtained video footage from IU Health of the suspect walking around the exterior of the hospital. One video showed the male enter the south side of the IU Health parking lot from the new access road that runs behind SAIC and Tri-Star Engineering. The video then shows a person riding a mountain bike wearing the same clothing as the suspect in the video provided by Jackson County Bank. The video continues and shows the male leaving the property and heading south on the same mountain bike towards the access road. It appears that the individual changed clothing and is now wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and jeans. He also appears to be wearing the same shoes and there is a bag hanging off the front of the bicycle.

Video at Lowe’s captured the male on the bicycle cutting through the parking lot and traveling north toward McDonald’s.

The McDonald’s video shows the male enter their parking lot on his bicycle and then enter the restaurant. The male then goes to the counter and orders a beverage.

On Sept. 5, 2017, after viewing all the video, police did a photo lineup with the bank tellers who came in contact with the suspect. They were able to narrow the photos down to two possible suspects. Then from Facebook tips officers were able to narrow the suspect list to the same two people that the tellers had identified.

On January 31, 2018, ISP completed DNA sample testing on the bandages and the counter.

“The (DNA) profile did not match the suspects that provided DNA samples, ” Sgt. Louden noted in his report. “I received a CODIS hit for an unknown male subject. I was also made aware that the DNA matched the DNA from an armed robbery that was by the Mitchell Police Department. I made contact with Officer England to reference this information and to see if they had any suspects. At this time there are no suspects by either department.”

On September 4, 2019, Sgt. Louden received an email from the ISP Lab stating that a CODIS hit had a match for the DNA examination on the gauze bandage. The DNA returned to Jeffrey Waggoner.

After receiving this information police interviewed Waggoner at the Bedford Police Station.

Waggoner was read his rights and told his DNA matched the DNA found at the attempted bank robbery. He was also shown photos taken from the videos. He was requested to give another DNA and agreed but after reading the consent form he said he wanted an attorney and the interview was stopped.

On September 4, 2019, Sgt. Louden requested a warrant to obtain a DNA sample from Waggoner. That warrant was granted.

Jeffrey was contacted at the Lawrence County Jail on September 5, 2019 and his DNA was obtained for testing.

The ISP Lab confirmed that on October 30, 2019 Waggoner’s DNA matched that found on the gauze and a warrant was requested for his arrest on the attempted robbery at Jackson County Bank.

Battery with Deadly Weapon

On September 15, 2019, at 5:19 p.m. Bedford Police Department was alerted to a man covered in blood walking south on K Street.

Officer Jerrett Tedrow found a man bleeding profusely and stumbling near the TASC garage next to the police department. The male was using his left hand to cover the left side of his face. He was covered with a large amount of blood and blood was dripping and pooling around him.

Officer Tedrow ran for his medical kit and rendered first aid in an attempt to stop the bleeding. An IU Health Hospital ambulance was called.

The male was then seen sitting in a pool of blood against the wall at the TASC garage and was incoherent and mumbling and could not tell police what happened.

When the ambulance crew arrived the male became combative and refused treatment. He then realized they were there to help and cooperated. He was transported to IU Health Hospital, stabilized, and flown by medical helicopter to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.

But before leaving, he was able to tell police only one word – hatchet. The male was then placed in a medically induced coma and transported to Indianapolis.

Officers at the scene followed the blood trail. The trail went south on K Street then east on 13th Street. The trail was then picked up again going north on J Street to a homeless camp west of J Street.

At the camp, police found two men who were detained and taken to the Bedford Police Department.

One male had an alibi and was released. The other, Jeffery Waggoner, had a black eye and blood on his face and clothing. Waggoner told police he knew nothing about the incident and didn’t know the victim.

From the scene, police recovered two hatchets, a rock with blood on it, a crowbar, and a pocket knife.

Waggoner told police he was injured while cleaning out a building at 17th and J streets when a ceiling tile fell.

DNA samples were obtained from Waggoner’s face and clothing.

Police again attempted to speak to the victim but he was unable to speak and was getting prepped for surgery.

On September 19, 2019, officers went to drop off their evidence at the Indiana State Police Lab and to speak with the victim.

He told police the day before the attack he had met with his friend and Waggoner at his home. The men were wanting him to help them get a job at the victim’s place of employment. The victim said that he didn’t want to help Waggoner find a job. The men then discussed their other friends who were homeless and staying near the Hawkins-Bailey warehouse. The men then went to check on one of their friends but he was not there. The victim told police that Waggoner had got into a physical fight with the friend they were checking on and injured him during the incident.

The victim told police he was sitting on a cooler and Waggoner was laying in a hammock. The next thing he knew Waggoner was getting out of the hammock and attacking him. The victim told police that Waggoner had him on the ground and was pressing his fingers into his eyes. The victim then wrapped his legs around Waggoner and smacked him in the head in an attempt to get him off of him.

The victim says at that point the fight stopped and he was walking away on the trail when Waggoner walked up to him and struck him with an orange hatchet, knocking him to the ground.

The victim told police that he got to his feet and continued to walk in an attempt to get to his father’s house or the hospital. He said he knew he was hurt really bad because of all the blood.

Police interviewed the other man at camp that witnessed the fight. He told police he saw the fight and then observed the victim leave and walk down the gravel trail. A short time later Waggoner followed him down the trail.

Police then requested a warrant for Waggoner’s arrest.