A convicted felon will be heading to federal prison after pleading guilty to a string of armed robberies and carjackings in Georgia and South Carolina, according to prosecutors.
Demetrius Lamar Jackson, 30, of Savannah, admitted to the series of crimes, which included shooting a woman with a stolen .22-caliber pistol, U.S. Attorney Bobby L. Christine said in a news release Wednesday.
“Jackson is a dangerous, violent criminal whose rampage across two states left innocent people injured and victimized — and fortunate to still be alive,” Christine said.
Jackson was previously convicted of statutory rape in Chatham County in 2006, according to Georgia Department of Corrections records. He was released from Hays State Prison in August 2017.
Jackson’s robbery spree began Nov. 6, 2018, according to Christine. The first incident happened at a Boost Mobile store in Savannah.
Prosecutors said Jackson robbed an employee at gunpoint while the employee was transporting cash for the store. When a store manager came to intervene, he shot her in the abdomen, Christine said.
Jackson then hopped in a car driven by his accomplice, 23-year-old Nautica Morgan of Savannah, and the pair took off.
Nearly a week later, Jackson went up to a couple washing their Nissan at a car wash and pointed a gun at them, Christine said. He pulled the trigger, but the gun malfunctioned.
Jackson got into the couple’s car and sped away from the car wash, Christine said.
The next day, Jackson robbed a Boost Mobile employee in Valdosta and drove off in the car stolen from the car wash.
On Nov. 19, Morgan tried to steal merchandise from a beauty store in Augusta, but a store manager followed her. Christine said Jackson pulled a gun on the store manager. The same day, he and Morgan carjacked a woman at a nearby CVS store, tried to steal a man’s car at a Walgreens pharmacy in Conyers and stole someone’s purse.
Jackson robbed a Boost Mobile store in East Point at gunpoint on Nov. 20, Christine said. He told the store’s employees to empty the cash register and safe, then demanded the employees kneel on the floor of a backroom.
A day later, Jackson made his way to Athens where he carjacked a 73-year-old woman who was vacuuming her SUV, Christine said. He threatened to shoot her and pistol-whipped her, according to prosecutors.
Later that same day, he walked into a Boost Mobile store in Aiken, South Carolina, and robbed the place at gunpoint.
The crime spree was brought to an end on Nov. 23, when a store employee shot Jackson during an armed robbery at a Boost Mobile in Columbia, South Carolina, Christine said. Jackson drove himself to the emergency room in a Chevrolet Tahoe that he had carjacked in Georgetown, South Carolina, just a few hours earlier.
Police arrested Jackson and Morgan shortly after the shooting, Christine said. When authorities searched the stolen Tahoe, they found bloody clothes, the stolen pistol and several other stolen items.
Morgan faced federal charges in South Carolina in the crime spree, Christine said. She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to use and carry a firearm during crimes of violence and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence on Aug. 27, 2019.
Jackson entered a guilty plea Wednesday on charges of discharging and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to crimes of violence, carjacking, robbery and conspiracy to use and carry firearms during crimes of violence.
He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 17 years in prison.
“The court retains the authority to sentence Jackson to prison for life, and there is no parole in the federal system,” Christine said.
Sentencing has not been scheduled.
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