By By Lisa Tindell
news editor
The barks of tracking dogs could be heard Thursday in the Martin Luther King Drive area of Brewton as numerous law enforcement officers searched for a Florida fugitive wanted on armed robbery charges.
Officers did not get their man — but they got two others in the course of the search, including one suspect pulled from the woods before the dogs were called off.
Shawn Demarcus Simmons, 30, of Century, Fla., is wanted in Florida, and now in Alabama, for aggravated battery, possession of a weapon by a convicted felon and robbery with a firearm in connection with an incident Feb. 25 when another Century man was attacked and robbed.
Officers with the Brewton Police Department, the Escambia County Sheriffs Department and the Alabama Department of Pardon and Parole acted on a tip that Simmons was seen in Brewton Thursday.
Sgt. Bryan Davis with the Brewton Police Department’s Narcotics Division said Thursday’s search was in response to tips that Simmons had been seen at a residence on Granberry Street.
Davis said a foot pursuit of the two men began with one subject taken into custody at the scene and the second subject being located and arrested a short time later.
Arrested were Eddie Jones Jr., 20, who was taken into custody at the scene of the search, and Christopher Samuel, 19, who was taken into custody after being located a short time later, Davis said.
Davis said a search at the Granberry Street residence turned up approximately two grams of crack cocaine; baggies commonly used in packaging illegal narcotics for drug distribution; and other drug paraphernalia.
Jones and Samuel were  charged with attempting to elude law enforcement officers, unlawful possession of a controlled substance (crack cocaine) and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Simmons, who is still being sought, is a suspect in an armed robbery involving Devanta Aaron Knight, 28, also of Century.
According to a report from the Escambia County, (Fla.) sheriff’s office, Knight told officers he was standing in the yard of a Zion Street home talking to Simmons when the robbery took place. Knight told deputies the suspect took $2,000 from him.
Florida investigators were notified by the Poarch Police Department that Knight was a suspect in the robbery of a woman at Wind Creek Casino and Hotel’s parking lot on Feb. 24. Reports said the woman was robbed of more than $1,400 in the incident.
Knight was charged with first-degree theft of property in connection with that case.
Simmons is described as a black male of medium build and has a scar on his upper and lower lips, scars on both legs and a tattoo on his left arm. The suspect has been reported seen at Zion and Cottage streets in the Century area as well as the Brewton location where Thursday’s search began. Simmons is known to use aliases of David Jones, Sean Simpson and Sean Simmons.
Officials said Simmons should be considered armed and dangerous.
In a separate case, officers with the Brewton Police Department arrested Charles McRandall Lowell, 45, of Brewton, when they performed a traffic stop on a vehicle on Belleville Avenue March 8.
Davis said Sgt. David Mathis made the stop on the black 1988 Chevrolet pickup truck after it was seen traveling on the wrong side of the road on South Boulevard.
Davis said the bottle contained 52 pills identified as Soma and 20 pills identified as Lortab. Lowell did not have a prescription for the Lortab, Davis said.
Mathis was assisted by officer Ricardo Carpenter on the stop and subsequent investigation, Davis said.
The bottle contained 32 pills identified as Bystol, 10 pills identified as Methadone and 6 and one-half pills identified as Xanax, Davis said.
Lowell was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance (Xanax, Lortab, Methadone) and illegal possession of prescription medication. The case was turned over to the Brewton Narcotics Division.
Bond for Jones and Samuel were being held at the Escambia County Detention Center Friday awaiting a bond setting hearing. No information on that hearing was available at press time.
Lowell is being held at the Escambia County Detention Center on $25,000 bond.