Editor’s note, September 9, 2025: The charges against the subject of this story were discharged under Georgia’s First Offender Act, meaning he successfully completed probation and the case was dismissed.

Powder Springs police have arrested a man who they say tried to rob a McDonald’s cashier at the restaurant’s drive-thru window.

Timothy Joseph Robinson, 32, was charged with one count each of armed robbery, aggravated assault and terroristic threats in connection with the April 11 incident at 4021 Powder Springs Road.

According to a warrant secured Aug. 5 for his arrest, Robinson pulled up to the drive-thru window around 5:40 p.m. and passed the employee a note “advising him to place all the money in a Burger King bag.” He also threatened to shoot the employee if he ran.

Throughout the encounter, Robinson kept his right hand inside a bag, giving the appearance that he was armed with a weapon, according to the narrative written by an officer in the warrant. The cashier asked the man “if it was a joke,” and Robinson allegedly demanded the employee hand over the cash, the officer wrote.

RELATED | Police seek man who tried to rob McDonald’s cashier at drive-thru window

Powder Springs police spokesman Major Dwayne Prosser said the cashier ran, causing the suspect to panic and drive off without any cash. Investigators released surveillance footage of the incident in an appeal to the public to help identify the man and the van he was driving. Prosser said officers got a break in the case when a citizen called in a tip about the van’s location.

Prosser said officers went to the location, which was Robinson’s address and interviewed him about the case. At that time, Prosser said detectives did not have enough evidence to arrest and charge Robinson. However, they did have the note and with the help of the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office and the Cobb County Police Department’s Evidence Unit, they were able to lift a fingerprint off the note. That print came back as a match to Robinson, Posser said. The print, along with cell phone tower data and other information, was enough to place Robinson under arrest, Prosser said.

“It was really good, stay-after-it detective work,” Prosser said of the investigators’ work in the case.

Robinson was booked into the Cobb County Jail Thursday and remains held without bond.

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