STAFF REPORT :::
Three perpetrators of a July 2018 armed robbery of the Griffin T-Mobile store have been sentenced to prison sentences ranging from 20 years to life in prison.
According to a press release issued by the Spalding County District Attorney’s Office, the case of State of Georgia v. Dexter Lamar Boyd and Victor Lee Warner was tried this week before Superior Court Judge Christopher Edwards.
The jury convicted Boyd and Warner of armed robbery, two counts of aggravated assault, theft by taking and possession of firearm during the commission of a felony.
Warner was also convicted of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
District Attorney Ben Coker and Assistant District Attorney Donna Gopaul tried the case.
Warner was sentenced to life in prison for his actions, and Boyd was sentenced to 20 years with the first 12 years to be served in prison for his involvement.
Another co-defendant, Timothy Ragland, entered a guilty plea and testified against the other two co-defendants at trial. He received a sentence of 20 years with the first 10 years to be spent in prison.
The defendants were convicted of taking cellular phones from the T-Mobile store located on North Expressway on July 31, 2018.
Officials say they forced two T-Mobile employees into the back and ordered them to dump cellular phones into bags. Unbeknownst to the defendants, one employee placed a tracking device into the bag. That tracking device allowed law enforcement to track the defendants to Henry County, where they proceeded to engage law enforcement in a high-speed chase.
They were apprehended after their vehicle wrecked.
“It was an honor to fight alongside ADA Gopaul and law enforcement in obtaining a conviction in this case. Thank you to my office, law enforcement, and the brave witnesses who testified in this trial. Armed robberies are a horrific crime that have a lasting impact on victims,” Coker said. “We as a society cannot accept or condone the idea that ‘you have it, I want it, I’m going to take it.’ My offices will continue to work hard to make sure that this idea is eradicated from this community. This sentence should be a message to those that violently take what is not theirs. We are tired of it.”
