A man accused of stealing a 74-year-old woman’s 5-carat diamond engagement ring while riding on a distinctive blue motorcycle in Atlanta was denied bond Thursday, court records show.
Jermaine Alexander Hewitt, 35, of Snellville, faces a strong arm robbery charge in connection with the Oct. 18 robbery outside a salon on Piedmont Road, AJC.com previously reported. He was arrested four months after the $100,000 ring was stolen.
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A woman on her way to the salon told police she noticed a man on a blue Sukuzi following her, and he later approached her and demanded her ring, according to a police report.
“Give me the ring, you (expletive) old white (expletive)!” the man allegedly told the woman.
The motorcycle bandit grabbed the woman’s wrist and forced the ring off her finger, the report said. A witness and the woman identified Hewitt as the suspect based on the motorcycle he was riding. Police found a motorcycle matching the description at a DeKalb home Hewitt was at in February, which led to his arrest.
The victim didn’t show up in court Thursday, but her daughter did, and she read a letter from her mother pleading for the judge to deny Hewitt bond, Channel 2 Action News reported.
Hewitt’s attorney, Michael Barber, told AJC.com in a phone interview that his client is adamant that prosecutors have the wrong man.
In the police report, the victim said the man had an accent that sounded foreign, which Barber said his client doesn’t have.
“(Hewitt) is an African-American from the United States, and he doesn’t have a foreign accent. That helps our case,” Barber said.
He also said prosecutors have attempted to tie Barber to other robberies involving a blue motorcycle in DeKalb, but Hewitt hasn’t been charged.
“Mr. Hewitt was charged in DeKalb County, but not with robbery. The judge wouldn’t even attach it,” Barber said.
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
He does face other charges in DeKalb and Gwinnett, including second-degree burglary, a firearm possession charge by a convicted felon, felony marijuana possession and some probation violations, but he hasn’t been tied to three other similar motorcycle robberies in Fulton and DeKalb, Barber said.
In October, a man told Dunwoody police he was robbed after a man on a blue motorcycle struck his car, AJC.com previously reported.
“He said, ‘Give me your watch or I'll kill you,’” the man later told Channel 2.
In September, a man on a motorcycle allegedly pointed a gun at a man in Brookhaven and demanded his Rolex watch. But the would-be victim also produced a gun and the motorcyclist left without further incident.
And in February, a woman told police a man on a motorcycle pulled up beside her in Buckhead and snatched her designer watch.
No one has been charged in those three incidents. Anyone with information is asked to contact CrimeStoppers at 404-577-8477.
MORE: Multiple people in luxury cars robbed by man on blue motorcycle
In 2013, Hewitt was convicted and sentenced to four years of probation for felony theft by taking in Gwinnett, court records show. He has three other previous convictions, Channel 2 reported.
Barber said his client’s past convictions and arrests, in addition to the letter read by the victim’s daughter, was likely what led to the bond denial.
Hewitt remains in the Fulton County Jail, according to jail records.
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