Suspect in Krispy Kreme robbery charged with previous armed robberies in Madison County
A photo taken from a surveillance video at the Krispy Kreme on Beltline Road during a Sept. 27 robbery. Zachary Cortez Lilley was taken into custody Saturday and charged with first-degree robbery.
Zachary Cornez Lilley, 32, of Huntsville, was apprehended Saturday by U.S. marshals on a charge of first-degree robbery and was released from Morgan County Jail the same day after posting a $250,000 bond.
The robbery occurred at 7:08 a.m. Sept. 27, a Sunday morning. According to an affidavit filed by Decatur police Detective Sean Mukaddam on April 14 when an arrest warrant was issued for Lilley, the defendant entered the 1648 Beltline Road S.W. business with a pistol and stole $1,100.
Surveillance photos released by police at the time showed a male wearing a mask and a black hoodie confronting a Krispy Kreme employee with hands raised.
In the affidavit, Mukaddam described the investigation that led to Lilley being charged.
“Approximately a quarter mile away from the business, responding officers located clothing in the middle of the roadway,” Mukaddam wrote. “At the same location, a homeowner observed a heavyset black male pull into a driveway.
“The black male exited his vehicle and removed his clothing. The clothing was left on the side of the driveway and (he) fled the scene. The clothing matched the clothing the suspect wore during the robbery.”
Mukaddam said the clothing was sent to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences for DNA analysis, and on April 9 police were notified the DNA matched Lilley.
“Additionally, the DNA was a match to a 2020 armed robbery of a nail salon in Madison Police Department’s jurisdiction,” Mukaddam wrote, although court records do not indicate Lilley had been charged for that robbery as of Wednesday.
Lilley has faced such charges before.
In February 2007, when he was 18, Lilley was charged with armed robbery when he allegedly carried a shotgun into Supervalue Grocery in Madison County and stole $320. He was released on bond while awaiting trial.
In October 2008, he was charged with using a handgun in an armed robbery of an individual. He pleaded guilty to the reduced charges of second-degree robbery for the 2007 and 2008 offenses and was sentenced to six months in jail followed by nine years and six months of probation. Probation was revoked in 2012, but restored and reduced after Lilley wrote a letter to the court in 2013 outlining the counseling, anger management and plumbing courses he had taken while out of jail.
“I guarantee if I were to get a second chance, I would be the productive citizen that my counselors and program have installed in me these last couple of months,” Lilley wrote.
Also in October 2008, Huntsville police charged Lilley with breaking into two vehicles. He was indicted, but charges in those cases were dropped.
In June 2020, Lilley was charged in Huntsville with breaking into and entering a street sweeper truck. He was released on $3,000 bond and the charge is still pending.
According to Kristi Simpson, deputy to the chief of staff of the Alabama Department of Corrections, Lilley served two stints in prison on the Madison County robbery charges.
He was admitted to ADOC custody March 12, 2009, to serve a second-degree robbery sentence and was released on probation five months later on Aug. 23, 2009, Simpson said. He entered ADOC custody again April 26, 2012, also for second-degree robbery, and was released on probation Sept. 17, 2013.
