Federal prosecutors have indicted two Memphis men in a Buckhead home invasion.
One of the men, Leon Scott, plead not guilty during a bond hearing Wednesday in Atlanta federal court on charges of robbery, kidnapping and firearms crimes involving a family held hostage May 25. The bond hearing for the other man, Mario Deandre Jackson, has not yet been scheduled.
“These men are charged with terrorizing an Atlanta family, including their three minor children, during a violent home invasion,” Acting U.S. Attorney John Horn said in a statement. “They allegedly traveled to Georgia from outside the state for the purpose of robbing the family, and forcing them at gunpoint to remove money from an ATM and to turn over other valuables, including a wedding band.”
Clad in an orange jumpsuit, Scott wept briefly Wednesday before pleading and then waiving his bond hearing. The case was bound over for trial.
His lawyer Bill Morrison said the Memphis man didn’t appear to have a criminal record.
Atlanta police detectives who were in the court room Wednesday, were tightlipped about how Scott and Jackson allegedly targeted the Buckhead home.
Detectives learned through a Crime Stoppers tip that the suspects were from Memphis.
On May 25, the two men entered a $3 million mansion on Paces Ridge Road. The home was occupied by a husband, wife and three minor children. They drove one victim to an ATM to force him to withdraw cash, prosecutors said. The robbers demanded more money by morning and threatened to harm the family if demands were not met, police said at the time.
Prosecutors said Georgia State Patrol officers on July 9 stopped a car in which Jackson was a passenger and found him with two firearms, both of which had been stolen during other robberies in Atlanta and Memphis. Scott was arrested separately in a motel in Birmingham July 24. Detectives also recovered a wedding band stolen from the Buckhead home at a Memphis pawn shop.
