A teenager was sentenced to 30 years in prison without parole Monday for two armed robberies in 2017, one of a Domino’s employee and one at a Dollar General store.
Cornelius Rich Horton, 18, pleaded guilty to two separate armed robberies over the course of eight months. He asked for a lesser sentence and a second chance due to his age, according to the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office, but the prosecution highlighted the violence of the crimes.
In January 2017, Horton committed an armed robbery of a Domino’s employee, stealing four large pizzas, two sodas and about $20. The employee was “scared for her safety,” the District Attorney’s office said.
In September of that year, he committed another armed robbery at a Dollar General on Bankhead Highway. He came into the store wearing a Halloween pumpkin mask around 9 p.m. and pulled a handgun out of his pocket, pointing it at the employee behind the checkout counter, witnesses said.
According to the District Attorney’s office, the employee pleaded for her life and told Horton she had four children.
He stole $900 from the store during the robbery.
A half-hour later, officers found him with another person unconnected to the robbery. Police found $909 in cash in Horton’s wallet, and during interviews with police he confessed.
“The sentence imposed ensures Cornelius Horton be appropriately punished not only for the trauma he inflicted upon the victims in potentially life-threatening cases, but also to ensure he will not have the ability to violently assault and victimize any more citizens of this community for a long time,” Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Steve Knittel, who prosecuted the case, said in a statement.
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