The leader of a group of bandits who violently robbed several Gwinnett County restaurants during a months-long crime spree in 2017 has been sentenced to life in prison, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Dametrius Marquel Sims, 30, was convicted Tuesday of more than a dozen charges for his role in the robberies that prosecutors said struck fear into restaurant owners and employees from August to October 2017, according to the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office. Sims, who also shot a restaurant manager, was handed four consecutive life sentences plus 90 years.
According to the DA’s office, Sims led a “restaurant armed robbery team” that set up establishments to be targeted, starting with a Steak ‘N Shake at 2110 Pleasant Hill Road on Aug. 14, 2017. At the time, another member of the crew, Trevonne Poole, was an employee and tipped off Sims about when cash would be removed from the location, prosecutors said. Sims then approached the manager and robbed him.
Six weeks later, on Sept. 28, Sims called the China House Restaurant at 2433 Mistletoe Lane and robbed a driver as they were delivering food. He later set up the robbery of a Golden Corral on Stone Mountain Highway on Oct. 1 with the help of another man, Oshay Howard, according to the DA’s office.
“Sims forced the manager back into the building at gunpoint and shot at him when the manager tried to flee,” prosecutors said.
Three days later, a Papa Johns delivery driver was robbed at the Vines Apartments at 3500 Peachtree Corners Circle after Sims called their phone, the DA’s office said.
The violent incidents led authorities to share Sims’ number to warn other restaurants in the county. But he then went back to robbing the establishments in person, prosecutors said.
On Oct. 9, Sims shot the manager of Marcos Pizza during an attempted robbery at the store at 4045 Five Forks Trickum Road. The manager had just closed the restaurant and was shot in the chest, according to a Gwinnett police incident report.
During the incident, Sims’ cellphone was logged into the Wi-Fi router at the Publix next door, the DA’s office said. He was arrested four days later after robbing a Royal Package employee at 5464 Lawrenceville Highway.
Following his arrest and trial, Sims was convicted on four counts of armed robbery, two counts of attempted armed robbery, six counts of aggravated assault and six counts of gun possession.
Credit: Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office
Credit: Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office
Poole pleaded guilty in 2019 and was sentenced to 10 years, while Howard pleaded guilty in 2022 and was sentenced to 12 years, according to Marcus Garner, spokesman for the district attorney’s office.
Howard was also charged with aggravated battery in connection with the death of 19-year-old Domiquo Riley, who was shot at the Midnight Blu Café on Jimmy Carter Boulevard near Lilburn in October 2017.
Christopher Parker, 42, of Lithonia, was arrested in connection with Riley’s death. In 2019, he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and gun possession by a convicted felon and is serving a 10-year prison sentence, Garner said. He was also given 10 years of probation and a $1,500 fine.
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