Pair Plead Guilty To Huddle House Robbery

G.F. Peterman, III, Acting United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, announces that Brandon Perry, age 24, from Jeffersonville, Georgia entered a guilty plea on April 20, 2016, to Interference with Commerce by Robbery and Possession of a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence before the Honorable Marc T. Treadwell, United States District Judge, in Macon, Georgia.

Mr. Perry’s sentencing is scheduled for July 6, 2016.  Mr. Perry faces a maximum penalty of twenty years imprisonment on the robbery charge and a minimum mandatory consecutive sentence of seven years to life on the firearms charge.

Gabriel Bell, Mr. Perry’s co-defendant, age 21, from Warner Robins, Georgia, previously entered a guilty plea to the same charges on April 2, 2015.  His sentencing is scheduled for April 27, 2016.  Mr. Bell faces a maximum penalty of twenty years imprisonment on the robbery charge and a minimum mandatory consecutive sentence of five years to life on the firearms charge.

As part of their guilty pleas, Mr. Perry and Mr. Bell both admitted to robbing the Huddle House Restaurant located at 5218 Highway 96 West in Jeffersonville, Georgia.  Mr. Perry and Mr. Bell entered the store wearing masks and pointed firearms at the employees of the store.  Mr. Perry brandished a short-barreled shotgun and stood by the door while Mr. Bell, carrying a pistol, went behind the counter and took money from the cash register as well as the purse belonging to an employee.  The purse contained a bank bag with money belonging to the store. 

The two men then left the store on foot and ran to Mr. Bell’s vehicle.  While approaching his residence, Mr. Bell lost control of the vehicle and crashed.  Investigators responded to the scene and observed broken glass and blood on the deployed airbags.  Investigators suspected that the vehicle was involved with the robbery and obtained consent to search Mr. Bell’s bedroom.  During the search investigators located a pair of shorts and a pair of pants that matched those worn by the robbery suspects, both of which contained blood and glass.  The shorts also had a large amount of cash and the keys to the wrecked vehicle in the pockets. 

Investigators also recovered the employee’s purse with the bank bag and the short-barreled shotgun, the latter being found in a path leading from Mr. Bell’s residence to the location where it was reported Mr. Perry was picked up following the car accident. 

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and the Twiggs County Sheriff’s Office.  Assistant United States Attorney Beth Howard is prosecuting the case for the Government.

For more information contact Pamela Lightsey, U.S. Attorney’s Office, at 478-621-2603 or pam.lightsey@usdoj.gov.