A previously convicted felon whose crime spree ended when he was shot by a store employee will spend nearly four decades in federal prison for a string of armed robberies and carjackings across Georgia and South Carolina.
Demetrius Lamar Jackson, a/k/a “Meechy,” 31, of Savannah, was sentenced last week to 444 months in prison after pleading guilty to Discharging and Brandishing a Firearm During and in Relation to Crimes of Violence; Carjacking and Attempted Carjacking; Interference with Commerce by Robbery; and Conspiracy to Use and Carry Firearms During Crimes of Violence, said David H. Estes, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood also ordered Jackson to pay restitution to nine victims in the case, and to serve five years of supervised release after completion of his prison sentence.
There is no parole in the federal system.
“Meechy Jackson is the epitome of a violent, armed criminal, and providence prevented his stolen gun from firing when he attempted to shoot his final victim,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Estes. “The legal gun owner then used his own weapon to defend himself, bringing an end to Jackson’s crime spree. He’ll have a long prison term to contemplate his errors – and to be thankful that he’s still alive.”
During sentencing, Jackson repeatedly disrupted the proceedings and was restrained by members of the U.S. Marshals Service after he lunged toward the prosecutors’ table.
According to court statements and filings, in November 2018, Jackson perpetrated a two-and-a-half-week crime spree across Georgia and South Carolina, including:
- Nov. 6, 2018: Jackson robbed an employee of a Boost Mobile store in Savannah at gunpoint while the employee was transporting cash for the store. Jackson shot the store manager in the abdomen when she came to assist, and fled the scene in a car driven by his accomplice, Nautica Morgan, 23, of Savannah.
- Nov. 12: Jackson approached a young couple who was washing a Nissan sedan at a midtown Savannah carwash. Jackson pointed a gun at them and twice pulled the trigger, but the gun malfunctioned. Jackson then sped away in the victims’ car.
- Nov. 13: Jackson robbed a Valdosta, Ga., Boost Mobile employee and his girlfriend at gunpoint. The getaway car was the one stolen at the Savannah car wash.
- Nov. 19: Morgan attempted to steal merchandise from a beauty store in Augusta, Ga. When the store manager followed Morgan, Jackson pointed a gun at the manager. Jackson and Morgan later carjacked a vehicle at gunpoint from a woman at a nearby CVS. Later that day, at a Walgreens pharmacy in Conyers, Ga., Jackson held a man at gunpoint and attempted to steal his car, then stole a purse.
- Nov. 20: Jackson robbed a Boost Mobile store in East Point, Ga. Armed with a pistol, Jackson ordered the store’s employees to empty the cash register and safe. He then demanded the employees kneel on the floor of a back room and surrender a key to the store and their personal cell phones, debit cards, and cash before he fled.
- Nov. 21: Jackson carjacked a 73-year-old woman in Athens, Ga., while she was vacuuming her SUV. Jackson threatened to shoot her and then pistol-whipped her in the head. Later that same day, Jackson walked into a Boost Mobile store in Aiken, S.C., pulled out a gun and demanded money. Before he left with the store’s cash, Jackson seized an employee’s cellphone and smashed it.
- Nov. 23: Jackson attempted to rob a Boost Mobile store in Columbia, S.C., and his pistol jammed when he tried to shoot a store employee. The employee produced his own legal firearm and shot Jackson, and Morgan then drove Jackson to a hospital emergency room in a Chevrolet Tahoe that the two of them had carjacked in Georgetown, S.C., a few hours earlier.
Jackson and Morgan were both arrested shortly after the Columbia shooting, and a search of the Tahoe revealed bloody clothes, the stolen .22 caliber pistol used in the crimes, and numerous stolen items.
Jackson’s charges stem from two separate indictments brought by grand juries sitting in the Northern and Southern Districts of Georgia. The Northern District’s indictment was transferred to the Southern District. The U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the Middle District of Georgia and District of South Carolina were important in bringing these cases to resolution.
For her role in the crime spree, Morgan was sentenced in February 2020 in the District of South Carolina to 144 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to Conspiracy to Use and Carry a Firearm During Crimes of Violence, and Brandishing a Firearm During a Crime of Violence.
“Quick, effective collaboration between state and federal law enforcement officers and prosecutors throughout Georgia and South Carolina has brought Demetrius Jackson to justice,” said Kurt R. Erskine, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. “This office is fully committed to tackling violent crime and protecting the community from violent criminals.”
“Jackson brutally inflicted a reign of terror against innocent victims across two states,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary for the Middle District of Georgia. “His lengthy prison sentence is a deserving result, and our communities will be safer with him behind bars.”
“Jackson terrorized innocent victims in two states in a crime spree that lasted more than two weeks, leaving those victims with emotional and physical scars for life,” said Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “This sentence won’t wipe away those scars, but thanks to an alert citizen and our many law enforcement partners, they won’t have to worry about him hurting anyone else for a long time.”
“This case is the product of a concerted collaborative effort on the part of ATF and its local partners to investigate and eliminate the perpetrators of violent crime,” said Beau Kolodka, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Division of the ATF. “These sentences will ensure the incarceration of dangerous criminals and contribute to the restoration of order and peace in the Southern District of Georgia.”
This case was investigated by the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Savannah Police Department, the Richland County (S.C.) Sheriff’s Department, the Valdosta Police Department, the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, the East Point Police Department, the City of Conyers Police Department, the Aiken (S.C.) Department of Public Safety, the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, and the Georgetown (S.C.) City Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the Southern District of Georgia and Theodore S. Hertzberg of the Northern District of Georgia prosecuted Jackson’s cases for the United States.
This is a press release from the US Department of Justice.
