Police ID Suspect in Norcross Hotel Robbery

PEACHTREE CORNERS, GA — Police have identified a suspect in the case of a man who told a Norcross hotel manager he was homeless, then robbed the hotel after being given some work to do there.

Gwinnett County Police say Joshua Evontay Hall, 29, is the lead suspect in the robbery.

Hall is wanted for Robbery by Sudden Snatching, but his current location remained unknown by police on Friday.

The robbery happened at the Comfort Inn and Suites at 5200 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard on Saturday, July 16.

Officers were called to the hotel at about 10:30 p.m. and spoke to a manager who said he'd hired the man to do some work at the hotel earlier in the day.

The man said he was homeless, from Ohio and had been arrested before for burglary, the manager told police.

The manager gave him $20 and a pizza for doing the work.

That evening, police say, the man came back inside the hotel lobby and asked a clerk to let him use the telephone to call the manager.

During their conversation, the man demanded more money and the manager refused.

After the clerk got her phone back, police say, she retreated to a back room at the hotel.

Surveillance video shows the man then jumping onto the counter, opening a cash drawer and stealing several hundred dollars from inside. He walks out of the lobby, passing several hotel guests on his way out.