A Cobb County man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole after he was found guilty on multiple charges related to two armed robberies he committed in 2019.
Sergio Hernandez, 36, was found guilty of three counts of armed robbery, six counts of aggravated assault, two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and three counts of criminal attempt to commit armed robbery, Cobb District Attorney Flynn Broady said in a news release. Hernandez’s life sentence was handed down last Friday.
The robberies took place three days apart in January 2019 within a mile of each other, Broady said. In each, Hernandez was accompanied by a second man, who was never identified and remains at large.
The first was at a check-cashing business on Windy Hill Road, Broady said. Hernandez and his accomplice entered the small office with their guns drawn and demanded money. The accomplice pointed his gun at the owner while Hernandez poured gasoline from a soda bottle into the pass-through slot at the counter and threatened to blow up the building.
The owner was able to press a panic button connected to a silent alarm, and the two men fled, Broady said. Prior to the robbery, security cameras captured footage of the men’s faces before they pulled on their masks, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported at the time.
Three days after the first attempted robbery, Hernandez and his accomplice successfully robbed Los Vaqueros Western Wear on South Cobb Drive, Broady said. This time, Hernandez and the second man entered the store with guns drawn and were able to steal $4,000 and three cellphones from the business owner and customers, Broady said. The two men fled in a blue 1992 Buick Riviera.
According to Broady, investigators were able to identify Hernandez from surveillance videos from both robberies. He was also identified by one of the business owners in a lineup.
Just four days after the second robbery, officers found the vehicle parked outside of a grocery store on Atlanta Road, less than two miles from Los Vaqueros, and arrested Hernandez.
He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole plus five years, Broady said.
“This man terrorized family-owned businesses in his own community,” Assistant District Attorney Amanda Buxton, who prosecuted the case, said. “We hope this sentence will bring a sense of security and closure for them.”
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