THOMASVILLE — A Thomasville man arrested Wednesday night is charged with robbing a woman at gunpoint as her child watched.

Ivan Nathaniel Arrington, 18, 77 Phillips Lane, is charged with armed robbery and cruelty to children in a late-night holdup Nov. 5 outside Pizza Hut on East Pine Tree Boulevard.

The robber, wearing two masks and brandishing a black handgun, grabbed a bank bag from the woman and fled.

Thomasville police detectives and Thomas County Sheriff’s Office investigators have been collaborating on leads. On Wednesday, officers developed Arrington as a suspect.

“We already had warrants on him for a theft involving a check,” said Sgt. Melven Johnson, assistant commander of Thomasville Police Department Criminal Investigations Division.

Arrington was found Wednesday night and arrested on the theft warrants.

During questioning Thursday about the Pizza Hut stickup, the suspect provided full details about the incident, Johnson said.

Arrington told detectives he ran along railroad tracks to Remington Avenue and hide from police in woods after the robbery.

The money and firearm have not been recovered.

The victim’s child was in her vehicle and witnessed the holdup.

In the theft case, Johnson said Arrington wrote a check for several hundred dollars on an account that had been closed more than a year.

“If a check is written on an account that has been closed for a long time, it is theft by deception,” Johnson explained.

Arrington was denied bond Thursday and remains in the Thomas County Jail.

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820.