Macon – A Macon man was sentenced Thursday to 20 years, 10 of them in prison without the possibility of parole, for his part in a July 13, 2016, armed robbery outside the Starbucks on Tom Hill Sr. Boulevard in Macon.

Travonta Deshawn Sinclair, 22, pleaded guilty to armed robbery and violating the state’s Street Crime Terrorism and Prevention Act during a hearing in Bibb County Superior Court.

If the case had gone to trial, Prosecutor Sandra Matson would have presented evidence showing:

Two employees were sitting on the patio outside Starbucks not long after closing time when they noticed a car driving slow in the parking lot. Shortly thereafter, two men wearing sunglasses and black bandanas over their faces approached the employees and demanded money from them at gunpoint.

The bandits took about $20 in tip money from one of the employees.

Sinclair, one of the men who approached the employees, was not carrying a gun.

At the time of the robbery, Sinclair was associated with the “EMF” street gang.

Two other men, 21-year-old Davontae Eugene Cobb and 18-year-old Malik Antwan Thornton, both of Macon, have pleaded guilty to armed robbery and been sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by 10 years on probation.

The case against one other man charged in the holdup still is pending.

Speaking after the hearing, Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney David Cooke said,
“Anyone who helps commit an armed robbery is just as guilty as the person who held a gun.”

For more news from the District Attorney’s Office, follow on Twitter @DA_DavidCooke and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DADavidCooke.

Contact: Amy Leigh Womack
awomack@maconbibb.us
478-621-6179 (office)
478-319-2529 (cell)