A Marion man was sentenced to 18 years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to the armed robbery of a local Burger King and the attempted armed robbery of a local Holiday Inn Express on the same day in 2016.
Terrell Deshawn Thomas, 24, who has remained in custody since his arrest Aug. 19, 2016, was previously sentenced to 25 years in prison for the Aug. 3, 2016, armed robbery of the Shell convenience store, 866 Park Ave., at the recommendation of a Garland County Circuit Court jury after a one-day hearing on June 19, 2018.
Thomas had pleaded guilty to the Shell robbery the day before and Deputy Prosecutor Kara Petro noted at the time he "really had no choice" since fingerprints left on a bag of chips at the store were matched to him, they had video of him in the store and Hot Springs police found the clothing he wore and a BB gun he used at the time of his arrest.
Thomas was also charged with a second count of aggravated robbery in connection with the May 15, 2016, armed robbery of Burger King, 228 W. Grand Ave., and with attempted aggravated robbery and other charges in connection with the botched armed robbery of the Holiday Inn Express, 205 Metha Court, about an hour after the Burger King robbery.
Thomas was to stand trial on the aggravated robbery charge from the Burger King on Sept. 25 and on the attempted robbery charge from the Holiday Inn on Oct. 22, but opted to plead guilty to the charges Monday instead.
He was sentenced to 18 years in prison each for the charges of aggravated robbery and attempted aggravated robbery and six years in prison for charges of breaking or entering and theft of property in connection with the Holiday Inn incident, with all the sentences to run concurrently with each other.
According to the affidavits from the May 15 incidents, at around 10 p.m. police responded to a reported robbery at the Burger King where two employees, ages 28 and 22, said a black male entered the restaurant armed with a handgun and demanded money from the safe. The suspect fled when employees told him that only a manager could open the safe.
At around 11:30 p.m. that same night, a manager at Holiday Inn Express reported that an unknown suspect forced open the register while an employee was taking a break and stole money. Surveillance footage revealed the suspect had entered the hotel armed with a gun and went to the office area looking for an employee and then broke into the register when he couldn't find anyone. He also stole a small drop safe before fleeing on foot.
It was determined to be the same suspect from the earlier Burger King robbery, wearing some of the same clothing. A surveillance photo was published in The Sentinel-Record and posted on social media to try to identify the suspect.
A relative of Thomas told detectives she had seen the photo in the newspaper from the Burger King robbery and identified him as Thomas leading to his arrest on Aug. 19, 2016.
Local on 09/18/2018