Defendants Sentenced In $4 Million Jewelry Heist

PANAMA CITY, FL -- Two of the four defendants behind a $4 million armed robbery and jewelry heist that left its mark in Woodstock were sentenced for their part in the multi-state crime spree.

Abigail Lee Kemp, 25, of Smyrna was sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiracy, interfering with commerce by robbery, and using a firearm during a crime of violence, Christopher P. Canova, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, said Friday.

Fellow defendant Larry Bernard Gilmore, 43, of Atlanta was sentenced to 32 years in prison. Both defendants were also ordered to pay $1.49 million in restitution, Canova added.

The sentencing hearings for co-conspirators Lewis Jones III, 36, and Michael Bernard Gilmore, 47, both of Atlanta, were continued to 2 p.m. Feb. 16.

Between April 2015 and January 2016, 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, prosecutors said.

After the April 2015 robbery at Jared Vault in Woodstock, Jones and the Gilmores began training Kemp to rob the jewelry stores on her own.

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The training took place at the 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, federal prosecutors argued.

They also gave her 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.

Thereafter, 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, the United States Attorney's Office said.

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.

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 the robbery and left the store.

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

This case resulted from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Panama City Beach Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Kathryn D. Risinger and Michael J. Frank prosecuted the case.

Photos: Surveillance cameras captured Abigail Kemp at various jewelry stores across the southeast. Credit: FBI Jacksonville Field Office