A Cobb County grand jury has returned murder and other indictments against a Powder Springs man charged with the death of a resident of an East Cobb senior living home.
Landon Jean Pierre Terrel was arrested in August after Adam Bennett, 91, died after being found badly beaten at the Sunrise of East Cobb facility (1551 Johnson Ferry Road.)
According to media reports, Bennett suffered broken ribs, a lacerated kidney and a punctured lung. He died after being taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital, and Terrel was later chargedwith felony murder and aggravated battery.
The indictments against Terrel, which were posted late last week by the Cobb District Attorney’s Office, include felony murder, elder neglect and elder abuse.
Terrell is being held without bond at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center.
Other East Cobb-related indictments from last week include the following:
David Sutton Meredith, of Autumn Leaves Lane, 4 counts of child molestation and aggravated child molestation (held without bond);
John Joseph Geng Jr., of Water Wheel Court, 2 counts of methamphetamine or amphetamine trafficking, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon (held without bond).
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Marietta Police said Friday afternoon they have charged a man wanted in an East Marietta adult store robbery last month, and are searching for another suspect.
Willie Demetrics Shaw, 25, of Acworth, was being held without bond at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center, police said. He’s been charged with two counts of felony armed robbery for the Aug. 24 hold-up of the Elations adult entertainment store, located at 1424 Roswell Road.
Marietta Police said Shaw was taken into custody Tuesday in Austell, and was apprehended with assistance from the Cobb Anti-Gang Enforcement unit. Police also said they obtained video surveillance photos from surrounding businesses during the investigation.
The second suspect, who was not identified, was outside of Elations when the robbery took place, police said. Anyone with information is asking to contact Marietta Police Det. Sheffield at 770-794-5345.
Two Cobb County men arrested last spring in a Northeast Cobb drug trafficking case that also included major weapons charges have been sentenced to prison.
Kyle Nixon, 26, was given an eight-year sentence, followed by five years of supervised release. Eric Gamez, 27, was sentenced to nine years and five months, with five years of supervised release.
The sentences were announced Monday by the Cobb District Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta.
Nixon and Gamez were arrested April 6, 2016 following a joint investigation by the Marietta/Cobb/Smyrna Organized Crime Unit and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
A search warrant was executed at Nixon’s residence on Sanford Drive in Northeast Cobb, where authorities found 400 grams of cocaine and more 300 grams of heroin, which authorities believe they intended to sell.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, more than $13,000 in cash and 19 firearms, including an AK-47 rifle, also were discovered at the home.
The men tried to flee the residence, but were taken into custody at the scene, according to police. Nixon pleaded guilty in April 2017 and was sentenced in July. Gamez pleaded guilty in February and his sentence was handed down Sept. 14, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“These defendants were distributing cocaine and heroin while protecting their drug business with an arsenal of firearms,” Atlanta U. S. Attorney John Horn said in a statement. “Their actions disregarded the safety of our community, but swift action by law enforcement kept them from causing further harm.”
The man wanted for an East Cobb bank robbery last week has been arrested, with assistance from a tip via the Greater Atlanta Crime Stoppers tip line.
Cobb Police spokesman Sgt. Dana Pierce said Eduardo Estrada, 35, of East Point, has been charged with robbery by intimidation in connection with a holdup at the Fifth Third Bank branch at 2100 Roswell Road last Thursday.
Estrada was booked into the Cobb County Adult Detention Center late Wednesday and remains in custody on a $7,500 bond, according to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records.
At around 10 a.m. last Thursday, Cobb Police said a man walked up to a teller at the bank branch, located in a Kroger store at the Pavilions at East Lake Shopping Center and demanded money. According to police, he did not reveal a weapon but left on foot with cash, possibly heading toward Wheeler High School.
Wheeler and East Cobb Middle School were on a brief lockdown as the suspect was being pursued.
Pierce said the tipster could be eligible for a $2,000 reward for assistance in the robbery investigation. Crime Stoppers can be contacted with tips at 404-577-TIPS (8477) or by texting CSA + your tip to CRIMES (274637). Tipsters remain anonymous.
The two victims of an East Cobb fatal accident on Lower Roswell Road this week were remembered by friends at the scene. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
Cobb Police said the two male victims in an East Cobb fatal accident earlier this week were from Florida.
Joseph C. Gerace, 21, of Tampa, and Matthew L. Silvester, 24, of St. Augustine, were positively identified Thursday via dental records in Florida, Cobb Police spokesman Sgt. Dana Pierce said.
Police said Gerace was the driver and Silvester was the passenger in a white Dodge Challenger that crashed off Lower Roswell Road at the entrance to the Gold Branch Unit of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area shortly after midnight on Tuesday.
The car lost control as it traveled north on Lower Roswell near Asheforde Drive, then slammed into a stone sign at the park entrance and caught fire, according to police. The victims were pronounced dead at the scene.
Police cited wet roads and the vehicle traveling faster than the posted 40 mph speed limit as factors. Pierce said the accident investigation is continuing. Anyone with information is asked to call Cobb Police at 770-499-3987.
Two people were killed in a one-car accident off Lower Roswell Road in East Cobb early Tuesday morning, according to Cobb Police.
The victims, both males, died when the white Dodge Challenger in which they were riding slammed into a stone wall at the entrance to the Gold Branch Trail of of the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area shortly after midnight and caught fire.
Police said the men were pronounced dead at the scene, and that the Cobb County Medical Examiner’s Office was working to identify them.
Police said the vehicle was traveling on Lower Roswell Road near Asheforde Drive when the driver apparently lost control.
In addition to the roads being wet, police said the vehicle apparently was exceeding the posted 40 mph speed limit.
Anyone with information about the accident should call Cobb Police at 770-499-3987.
Surveillance photos provided by Cobb Police Department.
An East Cobb bank robbery Thursday morning resulted in the short lockdown of two nearby schools as police pursued a suspect.
According to the Cobb County School District, the exterior doors to Wheeler High School and East Cobb Middle School were locked for about 15 minutes after Cobb Police began investigating the robbery at the Fifth Third Bank location inside a Kroger supermarket at 2100 Roswell Road.
The schools are located across the street from one another on Holt Road and 1.3 miles from the Kroger at the Pavilions at East Lake Shopping Center at Roswell and Robinson roads.
Police said the robbery took place shortly after 10 a.m., when a man walked into the bank and demanded money from a teller.
According to police, the suspect never showed a weapon and left the bank with cash on foot, through the shopping center parking lot, and possibly in the direction of Wheeler.
The suspect remained at large late Thursday afternoon. According to a CCSD statement, the lockdown was “done out of an abundance of caution” at the request of Cobb Police.
“There was never any threat at either school and both schools continued with instruction as normal,” the CCSD statement continued. “Student and staff movement within the building was never restricted.”
Cobb Police described the suspect as an Asian male, around six feet tall, with a husky build. He’s believed to be between 30-40 years old, and was last seen wearing a black hoodie, a black Washington Nationals baseball cap and jeans.
Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call Cobb Police at 770-499-3945.
“We’re having some challenges,” Cobb Police Chief Mike Register told the East Cobb Civic Association Wednesday. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
Mike Register brought several pages of prepared remarks to Wednesday’s East Cobb Civic Association meeting as he aimed to lay out his vision as the newly named Cobb Police Chief.
After detailing his long career in the military and his return to the Cobb PD after serving as Clayton County Police Chief, real-time matters intervened to punctuate Register’s desire to make significant changes in the way officers are trained and how they deal with the public.
An hour before Register’s ECCA address at the East Cobb Library, WSB-TV reported that Lt. Greg Abbott, a 28-year Cobb PD veteran, had been placed on administrative leave after a dash-cam video revealed him making racially charged remarks to a female passenger riding in a car pulled over on a traffic stop in July 2016.
According to what was heard on the video, the white woman reached for her cell phone as Abbott approached, making a reference to police shootings. He said to her: “Remember, we only kill black people. We only kill black people, right?”
In the WSB-TV report, Abbott’s attorney said the officer’s comments were not taken in their proper context, claiming he was trying to defuse the situation.
Register, who succeeded retired chief John Houser in June, told the ECCA gathering that the officer’s comments were “hurtful,” and were “inappropriate in any context and not indicative of the values we’re trying to instill in the Cobb Police Department.”
At one point during his ECCA appearance, Register was summoned out of the room for a few minutes by County Manager Rob Hosack.
UPDATED, 4 p.m. Thursday: At a news conference on Thursday, Register and other county officials said Abbott would be terminated, adding that “it’s not the kind of decision we make lightly.”
On Tuesday, Cobb Police had to respond a WSB-TV report, based on a body-cam video, of an officer shooting at an unarmed teen eight times last November. That officer had already announced his resignation, and the Cobb District Attorney’s office recommended no charges.
Register said the video of that incident prompted him to call for changes in the Cobb PD regarding use of force and firearms training (The suspect’s lawyer is planning a lawsuit, according to the WSB-TV report).
After the second incident, Register admitted in his ECCA remarks that “we’re having some challenges.”
Cobb DOT photo of Roswell Road at South Marietta Parkway shortly before the ramp reopened early Friday morning.
UPDATED, 2:25 P.M.: The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said what turned out to be a deadly confrontation between a motorist and Cobb Police early Friday morning at a traffic accident scene in East Cobb involved the use of a Taser.
According to a GBI statement issued shortly after 2 p.m. today, the male driver of a white Dodge Caravan, which was heading westbound on Roswell Road, passed a marked Cobb Police car at an excessively high rate of speed.
Police tried to stop the Dodge Caravan, then pursued his vehicle, which then slammed into another car on the ramp to the South Marietta Parkway. The GBI said the driver of the Dodge Caravan “became combative and fought with officers” who had arrived at the accident scene. During the confrontation, one officer utilized his Taser, according to the GBI, and “the subject became unresponsive. He was transported to the hospital where he died.”
According to the GBI statement, the Cobb County Medical Examiner’s Office is conducting an autopsy on the deceased man, whose identity has not been disclosed.
The GBI said several officers received minor injuries during the struggle but did not require medical attention. The driver of the other vehicle involved in the accident was hospitalized with minor injuries, according to the GBI.
The GBI continues to investigate the post-crash incident, while the Georgia State Patrol probes the accident. The GBI will turn over its findings to the Cobb District Attorney’s Office.
ORIGINAL REPORT, POSTED 1:32 P.M.: Cobb Police said one person died early Friday following a collision involving two cars on the ramp connecting Roswell Road and the South Marietta Parkway in East Cobb.
The accident happened at 12:46 a.m., according to police, and the ramp was closed until around 7:30 a.m.
According to a statement from Cobb Police, the male driver of a white Dodge Caravan traveling westbound on Roswell Road passed a Cobb Police officer in a marked patrol car at a high rate of speed.
When the driver entered the ramp to South Marietta Parkway, the Dodge Caravan hit another vehicle in the curve, police said.
When they arrived at the accident scene, officers from Cobb Precinct 4 struggled with the Dodge Caravan driver, who was arrested and later transported to a hospital, where he died, according to the Cobb Police statement.
Cobb Police have not identified the man who died.
The accident remains under investigation and is being conducted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Georgia State Patrol.
An employee at the Sunrise at East Cobb assisted living facility has been charged with murder after a 91-year-old resident there died on Friday.
Landon Terrel, of Powder Springs, has been charged with felony murder, aggravated battery of a person age 65 or older and neglect of a senior care resident. According to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records, he was arrested late Wednesday.
Cobb Police said Adam Bennett, 91, died on Friday at WellStar Kennestone Hospital where he was taken Tuesday via ambulance due to injuries suffered at the facility. Sunrise at East Cobb is located at 1551 Johnson Ferry Road, just north of Roswell Road.
