A second man accused of taking part in the 2018 robbery of a Verizon store in which employees and customers were herded into a back room pleaded guilty Monday.
Lauritz A. Brady Jr., 37, pleaded guilty in Richmond County Superior Court to reduced charges in exchange for a maximum prison sentence of 15 years for armed robbery, kidnapping and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
Brady, his cousin Gregory Armstrong, 41, and Richard Taylor, 29, were arrested about 20 minutes after the Verizon store on Washington Road in the Whole Foods plaza was held up. The robbers didn’t realize in addition to cash and $93,000 in cell phones they also picked up a tracking device that relayed GPS coordinates to the Verizon security employees who forwarded the information to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.
The evening of May 23, 2018, two employees and six customers were inside the store when two masked men entered. The one with a handgun pointed the gun at an employee, telling him, “You know what time it is,” Assistant District Attorney Falin Syms said Monday.
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While the armed man took one employee to the office to force him to open the safe, the other, Brady, herded the other employee and the customers, including two teen girls, into a back room, Syms said. In addition to the cash from the safe, the robbers took 106 Iphones.
The Verizon security and sheriff officers followed the tracking device information from Washington Road, down through Harrisburg, and up Wrightsboro Road where the vehicle driven by Taylor was pulled over, Syms said. The cash and phones were in the vehicle along with clothing matching the clothes worn by the robbers.
Armstrong, the gunman in the robbery, pleaded guilty Jan. 21 to armed robbery and kidnapping charges. He was sentenced to 17 years in prison followed by three years on probation. Taylor has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Brady’s attorney, Patrick Berkshire, told Judge John Flythe Monday that Brady was not the typical defendant accused of a violent crime in that he had no criminal history but a minor misdemeanor conviction. Brady has been in a long-term stable relationship, working, and he is actively involved in his children’s lives, Berkshire said.
Flythe accepted the plea negotiation and sentenced Brady to 15 years in prison followed by 20 on probation. He will get credit for the months he was jailed before making bond.
Sandy Hodson is a staff reporter covering courts for The Augusta Press. Reach her at sandy@theaugustapress.com.
