‘Some playboy’: Viral Facebook suspect flirted with Columbus women to rob stores, cops say
The alleged burglar and suspected killer whose Facebook exchanges with Columbus police made headlines this month is reported to be “some playboy” whose flirting with women working in cell phone stores gained him access to security codes, authorities said.
Captured Wednesday by U.S. Marshals in Phenix City and wanted for a Sunday fatal shooting in LaGrange, Ga., Tierre Tyrell Williams faced six counts of second-degree burglary Friday in Columbus Recorder’s Court.
Detectives testified Williams had a peculiar pattern for stealing tens of thousands of dollars in cash and merchandise from local cell phone stores: “Flirting” with women who worked for the businesses and persuading them to divulge codes to the stores’ alarm systems.
When he returned after hours to steal cash and electronics, he sometimes wore a mask or a wig, officers said, but surveillance video from his earlier visits showed his face, and his stature — at 5-foot-8 and 300 pounds — was an obvious match, investigators said.
“Crystal clear,” Detective Kevin Baldwin answered when Williams’ defense attorney Ralston Jarrett asked how well the store video depicted Williams.
Williams, 28, is not the only suspect facing charges in the scheme: Two of the women involved also were arrested, and police are looking for a third, officers said.
The burglaries
Here in chronological order are the six cases detectives testified to Friday:
- June 20, 2018: Williams entered the rear of the Verizon Wireless store at 3517 Victory Drive and took $1,550 in cash and $16,880 in electronics, having formed a relationship with a woman who aided in the theft, said Detective Ryan Vardman.
- June 28: Williams and another man used a key to enter the Metro PCS store at 2911 Airport Thruway and took $3,943 in cash and 80 cell phones worth $17,000, said Detective Kevin Baldwin.
- Aug. 23: Williams took $21,000 in phones from the Metro PCS store at 4805 Buena Vista Road, Baldwin testified.
- Aug. 30: Williams and a woman used a key to enter the Metro PCS store at 3759 Victory Drive, disabled the alarm and took $13,327 in merchandise, said Vardman, adding police charged a female employee who admitted giving Williams her pass code.
- Sept. 12: Williams tried to disguise himself by wearing a wig as he took $200 cash and $5,000 in electronics from the Metro PCS store at 5600 Milgen Road, Baldwin testified.
- Nov. 29: Williams and an accomplice used a pass code to get into the Cricket Wireless store at 1056 Manchester Expressway, where Williams went straight to a filing cabinet to get a key to the store’s safe and took $1,684 in cash and $16,747 in merchandise, Vardman said.
Vardman added he questioned the Cricket store’s three employees before one he identified as Latoya Phillips admitted giving Williams her code. Earlier store video showed Williams brought lunch to the business and sat and ate with Phillips, the detective said.
Phillips, 34, was arrested Dec. 4 at the Columbus Public Safety Center, charged with one count of second-degree burglary, and released that day on $5,000 bond, jail records show.
Detectives identified a second codefendant, Tonya Ingram, 40, who jail records show was arrested Dec. 5 on two counts of second-degree burglary and released on bonds totaling $36,000.
When Williams’ attorney asked whether Williams had romantic relationships with the women, Vardman said the encounters were described as “flirting,” but during Williams’ banter with the women, “he asked for detailed information about the store.”
He also would walk into stores, flash a wad of cash in front of the employees and ask whether they wanted to make some money, investigators said.
Judge Julius Hunter found probable cause to send the case to Muscogee Superior Court, ordering Williams held without bond.
Were a Superior Court judge later to set bonds on Williams’ charges, he still would not be released, said police Sgt. Thomas Hill, because LaGrange police have placed a “hold” on him for the murder charge he faces there.
Outside Recorder’s Court, Williams’ attorney was asked about the evidence he’d just heard.
“They’re saying he’s just some sort of playboy that just has that kind of magic touch with the women, and then as soon as they get caught, they give his name up, allegedly,” Jarrett said. “It’s just ridiculous, with Mr. Williams. He has a lot going on, so it will be a rollercoaster. This is kind of the least of his worries, not that we’re downplaying it.”
Other cases
Besides murder, Williams in LaGrange faces charges of aggravated assault and other counts stemming from a shooting around 11:50 p.m. Sunday outside a Racetrac convenience store at 1519 LaFayette Parkway.
That’s where he confronted an acquaintance, 21-year-old Deangelo Finley of Auburn, Ala., who snatched a necklace from Williams’ neck and ran to his car, police said.
Williams started shooting at the vehicle, missing Finley but hitting Finley’s girlfriend, 22-year-old Da’Jai Green of Manchester, Ga., who died later at the Well Star West Georgia Emergency Department, authorities said. Finley was charged with robbery by snatching.
“It’s a very sad situation,” Williams told the Ledger-Enquirer by phone Wednesday, when asked about Sunday’s shooting. “I can’t reverse the action that was done.”
Williams already was on probation, having pleaded guilty Nov. 14 to felony theft and 12 counts of financial transaction card fraud in Muscogee Superior Court, where Judge Gil McBride sentenced him to 15 years with five to serve and the rest on probation.
The five years to serve would have been suspended, had Williams paid $11,158 in restitution to his victims.
This story was originally published December 20, 2019 at 1:25 PM.