YOUNGSTOWN — A federal affidavit gives a blow-by-blow account of how an FBI agent and Youngstown police tracked down Melvin L. Jackson, 18, and connected him to seven armed robberies in Youngstown, Boardman and Struthers.

The affidavit ties Edgar Ramirez, 22, to some as well.

Police arrested Jackson, of East LaClede Avenue, and Ramirez, of Detroit Avenue, on Jan. 20 as they fled from the robbery of the Dollar General on Oak Street. They have been in custody since.

At the time, the Youngstown Police Department had detectives working a “proactive aggravated robbery” assignment to try to catch the people responsible for a robbery spree, police Chief Robin Lees said in January.

Jackson had a hearing Monday in U.S. District Court, where he and his attorney, David Betras, agreed to give the government until May 21 to indict him. At Ramirez’s last hearing in February, he agreed to give the government until April 21.

The affidavit states FBI special agent Themistocles Tsarsas began to investigate Jan. 2 after a Dec. 21 robbery at the Kwik Fill gas station, 630 Youngstown Poland Road in Struthers.

In the 6:50 a.m. robbery, two masked men pointed guns at store employees and demanded money, getting more than $3,500 in cash and other items.

The agent reviewed surveillance footage from that crime and ones at a Speedway and Subway and identified consistencies — one black, masked male and one masked, white male or light-skinned black male of medium height and build, with similar shoes, clothing and firearms.

On Jan. 8, detective Mike Lambert of the Youngstown Police Department told the agent about the Jan. 8 robbery of the Dollar General, 1370 Belmont Ave., which Lambert thought may have been committed by the same two individuals.

Investigators later conducted surveillance on a home on Detroit Avenue and saw three males pull into the driveway in a vehicle and then leave a short time later. They were dressed similarly to the males in the earlier robberies, the affidavit states.

Lambert later provided the FBI with information about a credit card that was taken from a customer during the Belmont Avenue robbery and later was used for food-service delivery.

The agent was able to look at the customer’s banking records and determined the purchase was associated with Jackson, who lived at 575 Detroit Ave. The delivery driver told the agent about delivering to Jackson’s home on Detroit and identified Jackson as the person who received the food.

On Jan. 17, the agent saw Jackson getting into an SUV registered to someone living on Detroit Avenue.

On Jan. 20, law enforcement chased and stopped an SUV like the one the FBI agent saw earlier after it was used in the 9:30 a.m. armed robbery of the Dollar General store, 1504 Oak St.

Jackson, Ramirez and two other males were detained from the car. Jackson later told the agent he had robbed the Family Dollar on Oak, the Speedway on Meridian Road, the Kwik Fill in Struthers, the Speedway on Midlothian Avenue, the Dollar General on Belmont Avenue, the Subway on Midlothian and the Dollar General on McGuffey Road, the affidavit states.

Jackson said Ramirez conducted “multiple robberies with him,” and typically wore the same clothes each time, and the shoes he wore were at his home on East LaClede Avenue, the affidavit states.

Agents with the Mahoning Valley Violent Crimes Task Force searched the LaClede residence Jan. 20, seizing a pair of Nike sneakers that matched an armed robber in six robberies, reports state. Investigators also recovered a handgun and clothing during another search that appeared to be connected to the robberies, the affidavit states.

erunyan@tribtoday.com