Defendants Convicted in $4 Million Jewelry Theft Operation

PANAMA CITY, FL -- A federal jury convicted three men this week on charges stemming from a string of multi-state jewelry thefts that had ties to Woodstock.

Atlanta residents Lewis Jones III, 36, Larry Bernard Gilmore, 43, and Michael Bernard Gilmore, 46, were all convicted on charges of conspiracy, interfering with commerce by robbery and using a firearm during a crime of violence, the FBI's Jacksonville Office said.

Co-conspirator Abigail Lee Kemp, 25, of Smyrna took a guilty plea July 11. The guilty plea and verdicts were announced by Christopher P. Canova, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.

Between April 2015 and January of this year, the conspirators committed armed robberies of six jewelry stores in Panama City Beach, Florida; Woodstock and Dawsonville, Georgia; Bluffton, South Carolina; Sevierville, Tennessee; and Mebane, North Carolina.

More than $4 million of jewelry was stolen during the time frame of the conspiracy, the FBI notes.

After the April 2015 robbery, Jones and the Gilmores began training Kemp to rob the jewelry stores on her own. This training, prosecutors argued, took place at Gilmore's window tint shop in Atlanta. Jones and the Gilmores reviewed jewelry store layouts with Kemp, and taught her how to handle a gun, secure employees with zip ties, and what merchandise to steal, the FBI added.

They also gave Kemp various code words, decided her clothes and disguises, and then purchased supplies for her. Jones and the Gilmores always selected the dates and locations of the jewelry stores to be robbed, the FBI contends.

After the training, Kemp would enter an outlet mall jewelry store at approximately the same time of day, brandish a firearm, order the employees to the back of the store and force them to lie face down while she zip tied their hands behind their backs. Hundreds of thousands of dollars-worth of jewelry was then removed from the jewelry display cases.

Kemp would use an earpiece to communicate with her conspirators while Jones and the Gilmores conducted surveillance and security outside, the FBI states.

In December 2015, a jewelry store manager believed Kemp matched the description of the white female who was previously linked to the armed robberies of various jewelry stores in the southeast. The store manager requested that another employee contact the police. The conspirators decided to call off that planned robbery and left the store.

Five days later, they robbed the Mebane, North Carolina, jewelry store.

For each of the conspiracy and robbery charges, the defendants face a maximum of 20 years in prison. For each of the firearm charges, the defendants face a consecutive term of imprisonment of at least seven years and up to life on the first conviction, and a consecutive term of imprisonment of at least 25 years and up to life on the second conviction.

Sentencing hearings are scheduled for 9 a.m. Oct. 12 for Kemp and 2 p.m. for Jones and the Gilmores at the United States Courthouse in Panama City, Florida.

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