Mississippi man arrested, accused of leaving man nearly naked in armed robbery

Published 6:55 am Thursday, September 23, 2021

A Mississippi man is in custody after he reportedly stole everything his victim had except his boxer shorts.

Jovanti Barnes, 29, was arrested Tuesday afternoon on an armed robbery charge after he allegedly robbed a man at gunpoint last week.

The victim reportedly flagged a patrol officer down wearing only his boxers at approximately 5 p.m. Sunday Sept. 12 in the area of North Union Street.

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The victim stated another man held a gun up to him and took his bag and clothing.

After further investigation, police were able to identify Jovanti Barnes, 29, as a suspect in the incident and issue a warrant for his arrest.

Natchez Police Chief Joseph Daughtry said the Natchez Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division worked collaboratively with the Patrol Division to capture Barnes, who has a lengthy record for burglary, robbery and attempted robbery, Daughtry said.

“He is a regular,” Daughtry said of Barnes. He added a patrol officer noticed Barnes and arrested him Tuesday. He said Barnes has a Natchez address but moves around a lot.

“I want to give some kind of accolade to our CID and our Patrol Division for working together on this,” Daughtry said. “Once the CID division established a suspect, they got it out to our patrol and one of our patrol officers was on patrol today and saw him and took him into custody.”