CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — In 2022, four young men went to a Cherokee County neighborhood and, according to the District Attorney’s Office, performed an armed robbery. Now they’ve all been sentenced to decades in prison and banned from the county upon their release.
According to the DA’s office, Smar Sheriff-Tyhear Faines, Kristopher Devon Maxey, Nasir De’shawn Stover and Courtney Anthony Watson drove to the Waverly Park neighborhood together in a Nissan Altima around 2:30 a.m. on Nov. 3, 2022.
When they got there, Faines and Stover left the car and started walking through the neighborhood while Maxey and Watson stopped at a house to pick up a man and woman who Watson knew.
The four went to a local store to buy snacks, then Maxey drove them all back to the house. When the car stopped, Faines and Stover, in masks, “ran out of the wood line to the rear passenger doors” while armed and brandishing guns, stealing an iPhone 13 and switchblade from the male victim.
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The armed Faines and Stover then got in the car and the four drove away.
The DA’s office said while they were leaving the neighborhood, the group realized one of their cell phones had been left behind by accident. Watson contacted the female victim, offering to exchange the stolen iPhone for the phone left behind.
When they returned to the house, the DA’s office said the victims noticed one of the men in the group was wearing a gold Halloween mask on top of his ski mask.
Watson “snatched the phone from the victim’s hands but did not return the stolen cell phone,” and the victims called 911.
The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office responded and started an investigation into the incident.
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Minutes after that, the Holly Springs Police Department saw the same Nissan Altima at the Barrett Farms subdivision and the four suspects were detained.
In the car, officers found a 9mm handgun, black ski masks, the gold Halloween masks and the stolen items.
“Quick work from the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office and the Holly Springs Police ensured that these dangerous individuals were quickly apprehended. As the investigation and prosecution of this case proceeded, it became apparent that at least some of these defendants were associated with the Bloods, a criminal street gang,” Assistant District Attorney Chavis, who prosecuted the case on behalf of the State, said. “During the armed robbery, while shaking down the victims and threatening them with a firearm, the defendants kept asking ‘where is the blicky,’ which is a Blood term for a firearm.”
Law enforcement continued to investigate and determined that all four co-defendants had ties to the Bloods, with individuals who Maxey and Watson knew confirmed their association with the gang, the DA’s office said.
While incarcerated in a Georgia state prison, Watson called Faines on a jail texting device to recruit him into a subset of the Bloods called Sex, Money, Murder, according to the DA’s office.
At a series of March 8 hearings, Faines, Maxey and Stover each pled guilty to charges of armed robbery, aggravated assault, possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony and robbery by sudden snatching.
“At the plea hearing, Stover admitted that he was “jumped” into the Bloods, specifically the Rollin’ 20s, at the age of 13,” the DA’s office said.
Watson entered a non-negotiated guilty plea on Sept. 20, 2023, where he admitted to the same charges, as well as possessing a firearm by a first-offender probationer.
On Friday, all four men were sentenced to decades in prison and a ban from reentering Cherokee County when their sentences are over.
According to the DA’s office, each man pled guilty and received the following sentences:
- Omar Sheriff-Tyhear Faines, 20, of Acworth: 20 years in prison, with the first 10 years to serve in confinement
- Kristopher Devon Maxey, 21, of Canton: 20 years in prison, with the first 10 years to serve in confinement
- Nasir De’shawn Stover, 17, of Holly Springs: 20 years in prison, with the first 10 years to serve in confinement
- Courtney Anthony Watson, 19, of Acworth: 30 years with the first 20 years to serve in confinement and the remainder on probation
“Gang crimes are nearly always violent, which was the case here when these criminals lured two people into a situation for the explicit purpose of robbing them at gunpoint. Thankfully, no one was physically harmed, but this incident is traumatic and unsettling not only to the victims but also for the community,” Cherokee County DA Susan K. Treadaway said. “Through this sentence, four known gang members are now serving prison sentences, and have been banned from our county for the protection of our citizens.”
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