Retaliation for drug theft may have been motive for armed robbery

Now that some of the dust has settled on Monday afternoon’s arrest of Jacob Kline, the 19-year-old son of St Augustine city commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline and her husband Roger, details are starting to be uncovered about the events leading to the home invasion robbery that occurred January 25th.

Kline, who remains in custody in lieu of $100,000 bail, appears to have been the individual who instigated the armed robbery; specifically targeting the three victims inside the Ravenswood residence.

In sworn affidavits before the court, detectives involved in the investigation of this crime certified that at least one of the co-defendants demanded, at gunpoint, that the victims tell him “where Jacob is”. The robber told the victims not to deny that they knew Jacob, because he picked Jacob up from the residence the night before.

Detectives testified that they learned Kline called 18-year-old co-defendant, Sean Edmund Riggs, and told him that one of the victims in the residence had stolen narcotics and cash from him.

• Kline hired Riggs and his friends, 21-year-old Larry Thomas Travis Jr., 20-year-old Ronald Tyrone Burch, and 19-year-old Marcus Theodore Lewis, to commit the robbery in retaliation for the theft and to get his stuff back, according to the affidavit. Kline offered as compensation for the robbery to supply them with free drugs in the future.
• Jacob Kline informed his co-defendants that approximately five (5) pounds of marijuana, oil rigs, bongs, and other valuable drug paraphernalia should be inside the residence; ostensibly corroborating his presence in the home the night before.
• Kline reportedly told co-defendant Sean Riggs that if he and his friends got Kline’s narcotics back, they could keep any additional narcotics located inside the house.

So, on Monday, January 25, 2016, three armed men unlawfully entered the residence in the 200-block of West Jayce Way, demanding their valuables, and aggressively pointing firearms at them. The three victims stated they were all in well-founded fear for their safety and told detectives “they thought they were going to die”.

During the armed robbery, the suspects stole approximately two hundred dollars in cash, a cellphone, and a car key, prior to fleeing the scene in a light blue Hyundai Genesis.

Through a controlled contact with Kline, detectives determined the identity of the person who supplied one of the firearms used for the home invasion robbery. Kline was reluctant to talk to detectives. At one point, Kline reportedly told investigators, “I’ve told you all I know and I’m going to plead the fifth for everything else”.

Then, based on the evidence, phone records, and text message records recovered by detectives, along with Jacob Kline’s statements during the controlled contact, sufficient probable cause was demonstrated to obtain a warrant for his arrest.

Historic City News is also looking into what Commissioner Sikes-Kline and her husband may have known about their son’s involvement with suppliers of illegal drugs, and just how long they may have known it. Only thirty days prior to the armed robbery, Nancy Sikes-Kline and Roger Kline mortgaged their Davis Shores home to obtain a $100,000 home equity line of credit with Bank of America, according to property records obtained from the St Johns County Clerk of Court.