Jury Convicts Gwinnett Teen for Robbing Students at Pool

Gwinnett County prosecutors said Dajon Smith didn’t think he could be convicted for an armed robbery of five high-schoolers who went for a late-night swim in the summer of 2013.

He was wrong.

Smith, 17 at the time of the incident, was found guilty of armed robbery, false imprisonment, kidnapping and aggravated assault for robbing the students in the early morning hours of July 5, 2013, the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office said Monday in a news release.

Prosecutors said as the students were walking toward the pool, they noticed they were being followed by Smith and another suspect.

“Once in the pool area, the teens observed the same two individuals jump over the pool fence,“ the DA’s Office said. “Smith then approached the 5 teens wearing a bandana around his face. Smith pulled a handgun on the victims and demanded money and cell phones.”

One of the teens escaped to get help, but Smith forced three of the students into the pool and made a fourth student go through their belongings for items to steal, the news release stated.

Assistant District Attorney Matt Acuff prosecuted the case and presented evidence including a shirt that matched his description given by the victims and one of the stolen cell phones that were found in his room.

“The jury also heard jail calls in which the defendant states that ‘his victims’ would not be able to identify him and he would be found not guilty. Dajon Smith was wrong,” the DA’s Office said.

Smith’s mother asked the judge to give her son a sentence that would allow him to finish his education. He was sentenced to 30 years, including 15 years in confinement.

Photo: Dajon Smith; Gwinnett County Jail mug shot