A man standing trial in Fayette County Superior Court for the armed robbery of the Peachtree City AT&T store in December 2014 has been convicted on multiple charges.
Faheem Ali, 32, of Jonesboro, was found guilty of armed robbery, kidnapping, aggravated assault, theft by taking and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, according to the Fayette County District Attorney’s office as the result of a recent trial.
Ali’s accomplices Nakita Burkes, 32, of Atlanta, and Bryan Roberts, 28, of Rex, accepted a plea agreement earlier in the year. Burkes and Roberts implicated Ali in the robbery, according to Peachtree City Police Lt. Matt Myers, who added that fingerprint evidence was collected from trash bags taken into the store during the robbery.
Sentencing for the three will come in early December.
Peachtree City officers on Dec. 2, 2014 at approximately 6 p.m. responded to the AT&T store on Ga. Highway 54 East to a reported robbery, a Peachtree City Police Department spokesman said at the time.
Responding officers reported that two black males entered the store, with one brandishing a handgun. The suspects took over $23,000 worth of cell phones.
Unknown to the suspects and the employees, one of the cell phones was a “dummy” phone that is designed to activate a GPS tracking device when removed from the store, police said.
The GPS tracking company notified Fayette County 911 who reported the exact location of the suspects and the cell phones to the responding officers. Officers tracked the suspects from Peachtree City, through Fayetteville on Hwy. 54, and finally to the area of Corinth Road and Capital Court, according to officers.
The vehicle used by the suspects was abandoned near Corinth Road and officers subsequently searched the area.
One of the suspects, Nakita Burkes, was located in the Corinth Road area and was placed under arrest, according to earlier reports.
The gun believed to be used in the armed robbery was found abandoned on the roadside several miles from the stop location by a Fayetteville officer.
Fayette County Sheriff’s Office, Fayetteville Police and Clayton County Police assisted in the search for the additional suspects using K-9’s and a helicopter from Clayton County to no avail.
Ali and Roberts were subsequently arrested.
