Career criminal sentenced to federal prison for convenience store robbery

Latest conviction reflects partnership targeting repeat offenders

SAVANNAH, Ga:  A career criminal who pled guilty to robbing a convenience store was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.

Quinton Williams, 30, of Savannah, was sentenced to 180 months in prison by U.S. District Court Judge R. Stan Baker, said Bobby L. Christine, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. Williams, who pled guilty to Interference with Commerce by Robbery, also was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release after completion of his sentence, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution to his victims. There is no parole in the federal prison system.

As noted during court proceedings, Williams was under the influence of cocaine when he entered the Garden City Convenience store at 4801 Augusta Road on Sept. 16, 2018, and pointed a gun at the store manager. With several customers in the store at the time, Williams pointed a gun at the manager’s face and forced him to lie on the floor before stealing cash. Williams was arrested two days later. Due to the seriousness of his criminal history, Williams was judged to be a career offender with numerous violent felony convictions and offenses involving firearms.

“As we’ve seen too often, violent, career criminals like Quentin Williams are among the relative handful of people who cause much of the crime in our communities,” said Southern District of Georgia U.S. Attorney Bobby L. Christine. “Thanks to our diligent law enforcement agencies, this is now one fewer violent criminal for our citizens to fear.”

“Williams, with multiple prior felony convictions, once again put innocent civilians at risk during the commission of this robbery. He clearly has no regard for the law,” said Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “The FBI is proud to work with our local law enforcement partners in helping to convict these repeat offenders at the federal level, where they face stiffer penalties and no opportunity for parole.”

The case was investigated by the FBI’s Southeast Georgia Violent Crimes Task Force and the Garden City Police Department.