Last suspect in series of Columbus store robberies sent to prison after two acquitted
The woman who testified against her brother and another suspect in a September trial over a string of 2018 Columbus store robberies was sentenced to prison Tuesday.
Victoria Lashay Thomas, 32, and her then-boyfriend Rashid Lamon Ricks, 35, will be the only ones serving time for the robberies and break-ins, because a jury on Sept. 27 acquitted her brother, Amileus Keyshone “Mick Mick” Thomas, 24, and a fourth defendant, Montavious Travon “Money” Ogletree, 23.
Ricks and Victoria Thomas made an agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty after they testified against their codefendants.
She was back in court this week for her guilty pleas and sentencing. She pleaded to one of the 2018 armed robberies, to being a convicted felon with a firearm, and to two unrelated offenses that occurred while she was jailed.
Judge Bobby Peters sentenced her to 15 years with 10 to serve in prison and the rest on probation.
Here are the offenses to which she pleaded:
- An armed robbery of Nick’s Food Mart, 5018 Hamilton Road, on Sept. 27, 2018.
- Possessing a firearm on Oct. 24, 2018, after she was convicted March 22, 2013, of felony obstruction of police and criminal damage to property.
- Obstructing a Muscogee County Jail corrections officer by punching the officer in the face on Feb. 26, 2020.
- Interfering with government property by causing $990 damage to a jail window and TV screen on June 28, 2020.
Peters also ordered Victoria Thomas to have a psychological evaluation, and to pay restitution to some of the robbery victims, and to the jail for the damaged property. All her other charges were dropped in exchange for her plea and testimony.
Ricks’ sentencing
Ricks pleaded guilty on Nov. 8. He was sentenced to 20 years with 10 to serve and the rest on probation.
Here are the offense to which he pleaded:
- A smash and grab burglary at Zelmo’s Zip In, 3651 Weems Road, on Sept. 25, 2018.
- The same Sept. 27, 2018 armed robbery at Nick’s Food Mart, 5018 Hamilton Road, that Victoria Thomas pleaded to.
- An Oct. 17 armed robbery at Floyd Food & Lottery, 1600 Floyd Road.
- An Oct. 17 armed robbery at Ray’s Food Mart, 3822 Hamilton Road.
- Possessing a firearm on Oct. 24, 2018, after being convicted of felony shoplifting on Aug. 14, 2017.
Columbus police believed all four of the suspects were responsible for up to 16 neighborhood store robberies or break-ins between August and October 2018, and prosecutors in September chose to pursue seven cases with the strongest evidence.
But the evidence was not strong enough to convince 12 jurors that Ogletree and Thomas were guilty, so they acquitted both after about two hours of deliberation.
Much of the evidence was found in an apartment that Ricks and Victoria Thomas shared on Third Avenue, a few blocks from one of the stores that was robbed twice.
Believing Ricks’ black Lincoln Town Car had been used in some of the robberies, police tracked it to the apartment, where they served a search warrant on Oct. 24, 2018.
That’s when they found disguises, gloves and other clothing those perpetrating the crimes were recorded wearing on store security videos, as well as guns used in the robberies, stacks of stolen lottery tickets, and a pistol taken from one of the businesses, officers testified.
Ricks and Victoria Thomas were arrested after the search, which led to the later capture of Ogletree and Ameilius Thomas.
Store security camera recordings showed the robbers wore masks and heavy clothing that completely covered their faces and other features, so prosecutors had to rely on the codefendants to identify them from the videos.
Jurors found neither Ricks nor Victoria Thomas’ testimony credible, leaving prosecutors with little other evidence to put Ogletree and Amileus Thomas at the crime scenes.
The jury found Amelius Thomas not guilty on five counts of armed robbery, two of smash-and-grab burglary and one of aggravated assault. It found Ogletree not guilty on two counts each of armed robbery and of smash-and-grab burglary.
Besides those 2018 cases in which Victoria Thomas or Ricks pleaded guilty, here are the others that went to trial:
This story was originally published December 27, 2022 at 4:00 PM.