Affidavit reveals details behind Smith County home invasion arrest

SMITH COUNTY, Texas (KLTV) – A man has been arrested for his part in an alleged aggravated home invasion at a mobile home park in Smith County.

Jason Thomas Stamps, 36, was arrested on charges of aggravated burglary and evading arrest with a vehicle.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit, on Sept. 12 at 11:48 p.m., a woman was in her bathroom when she heard someone kicking in her front door. She ran outside and yelled at the men who entered her living room to get out. He knew some of the men, he told officers. One of the men, Charles “Root” Ray Griffith, Jr., held a gun to her head as they began taking things from her home, the affidavit says.

Another of the men, the affidavit says, was Stamps. He was seen pulling a large television from the wall in the living room and then carrying it out into the yard. He said they couldn’t fit the TV in his car, a small rented Audi, so they threw it on the ground and damaged it.

Some of the men also allegedly stole tools from the outside area of ​​the house and disconnected the surveillance camera. However, he discreetly took a dashcam video of the men pulling his TV off the wall, which he was able to show to the police.

The affidavit says Stamps was in an on-and-off relationship with the woman’s friend, who had previously been at her home, which is why he was possibly angry and took part in the home invasion.

The woman said that since the crime happened, numerous unnamed people have told her to “drop the charges or things could get worse.”

However, she and her partner chose to press charges.

Stamps, for his part in the alleged crime, was arrested Oct. 4 and booked into the Smith County Jail on aggravated robbery and evading arrest by vehicle charges.

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