OWINGS, Md. — Jonathan Alexander Gray, 35, of Prince Frederick, was arrested on July 30, 2025, following a multi-day, multi-county manhunt that utilized electronic surveillance and license plate reader data to connect him to a string of armed robberies in Calvert County. Gray is accused of robbing a Dash In convenience store at gunpoint and, just two days prior, stealing an iPhone from a Verizon store by handing an employee a threatening note written on a napkin.
The investigation was launched on July 27, 2025, when Calvert County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a robbery at the Dash In on East Chesapeake Beach Road in Owings. A store clerk reported that a tall Black male with long dreadlocks entered the store, claimed to have a gun and demanded cash, making off with $53.19. Surveillance footage captured the suspect and his getaway vehicle, a white Nissan Rogue Sport, which a registration check revealed was registered to Jonathan Alexander Gray.
According to the statement of probable cause, detectives immediately obtained a search warrant authorizing the electronic monitoring of Gray’s vehicle. The high-tech surveillance quickly yielded results. On July 28, a license plate reader (LPR) pinged the vehicle in Lothian, Anne Arundel County. The following day, detectives located the car and observed Gray driving it, noting that the front license plate had been removed. On July 30, investigators electronically tracked the vehicle from Lothian back into Calvert County and then to a Walmart in Bowie, where detectives conducted physical surveillance and took Gray into custody without incident as he exited his vehicle.
Investigators connected Gray to a robbery that occurred two days before the Dash In incident, on July 25, 2025, at a Verizon Wireless store in Owings. According to charging documents, a man matching Gray’s description entered the store where a sales specialist was helping a customer purchase an iPhone 16 Pro Max, valued at $1,209.99. The suspect approached the counter, handed the employee a crumpled brown napkin, took the new, unactivated iPhone and fled the store. The napkin contained a chilling, handwritten note: “I have a gun. Go in the back and get a black iPhone 16 Pro Max 256gb and I won’t hurt you!!!”
For the Dash In incident, Gray is charged with armed robbery and theft less than $100. For the Verizon incident, he is charged with theft: $100 to under $1,500. Under Maryland law, armed robbery is a felony that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The theft charges are misdemeanors with potential penalties of up to 90 days and six months in jail, respectively.
Following his arrest, Gray was held without bond after bail reviews before Judge Megan B. Johnson and Judge Robyn Riddle. A preliminary hearing and trial are scheduled for late August and early September 2025. He was transported to the Calvert County Detention Center.
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would you say he is emotionally attached to Verizon?