After just a few years of training to be a prisoner of the state of Georgia, Nathanial has reached his goal. And people say these youngsters have no aspirations.
In his teens, Nathaniel Jones took part in a burglary, a carjacking, a nightclub shooting, a store robbery and the cocaine trade, according to police and court records. Now he'll probably have gray hair before he sees freedom again.
His undoing was making deals with men behind the counter at Colur Tyme Tattoos and Things. The south Augusta tattoo parlor was actually an undercover police operation that netted more than a hundred arrests and crippled the city's street gang networks.
Mr. Jones, 20, will face 30 years in federal prison, officials announced this week. U.S. District Judge Dudley H. Bowen Jr. gave him the heftiest punishment levied so far on anyone charged in last fall's Operation Augusta Ink. Police identified him as one of the operation's top targets.
A 2007 graduate of Academy of Richmond County, Mr. Jones was charged with commercial business robbery, hijacking a motor vehicle, possession and sale of stolen vehicles and distribution of cocaine, among other crimes. He pleaded guilty to two counts of using a firearm during a violent crime.
U.S. Attorney Edmund Booth said in a statement that evidence linked him to the February 2007 shooting of a bouncer at Club Dreams and an April 2007 carjacking, both of which were solved during the 16-month sting.
Undercover officers from the Richmond County Sheriff's Office and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had criminals believing Colur Tyme was a great place to swap stolen goods and firearms for cash. In view of surveillance cameras, Mr. Jones brought in a Mercedes-Benz that had been hijacked the day before and a .40-caliber handgun that was matched through ballistics to the club shooting, sheriff's investigators said.
Investigators also identified him as one of the two men who held up Richmond Hill Market on New Year's Day 2007, shooting owner Paul Patel in the left leg and abdomen. Mr. Patel was rushed to Medical College of Georgia Hospital and survived.
Reach Johnny Edwards at (706) 823-3225 or johnny.edwards@augustachronicle.com.
Comments
After just a few years of training to be a prisoner of the state of Georgia, Nathanial has reached his goal. And people say these youngsters have no aspirations.
"A 2007 graduate of Academy of Richmond County, Mr. Jones was charged with commercial business robbery, hijacking a motor vehicle, possession and sale of stolen vehicles and distribution of cocaine, among other crimes. He pleaded guilty to two counts of using a firearm during a violent crime."....Why yes PT a fine upstanding GRADUATE of RC public schools. HOME SCHOOL !!!!!!!
Nathaniel Jones, another fine example of out of control teens, young adults. Of course as karmakills123 posts blame our schools instead of placing the blame where it squarely belongs, on the backs of care less, responsibility dodging parents.
They need to give him more than the 30 years. This person has shown in the little time that he has been on earth, that he is a threat to everyone. You can keep your Home School, we know that no one that has ever been home schooled, have ever gone on to committ a crime.
They need to give him a bullet behind the ear.
What a waste of a life that could have been so happy and successful. I am grateful that he did not kill Mr. Patel, and now he won't be able to attempt to kill another law-abiding citizen.
Why do we blame the schools when young people perputrate violent crimes against society? In fact he was not attending school at the time. Also it seems that we have more compassion for the perputrator than we do for the victims. I am responsible for my child and when he gets to be a certain age, I expect for him to take responsibility for his actions. Also, we don't know if the parent attempted to do anything that would have changed this young man's behavior.
Do you all have adolescent amnesia or what? pah4r's comments sound just like things my parents said about teenagers when I was a teen and just like the things their parents said about them. I guess we "perfect" children grew up and became the President, the mayor of a major city, etc, of course, they all had perfect childhoods with no use of drugs or alcohol and of course they did not have sexual relations with someone young enough to be their daughter. Yeah, we were perfect children and we have raised our perfect children as well.
What you all dont understand is that he got sentenced to 30 years in FEDERAL COURT. There is no 2 for 1 or parole in the federal court system. If you get sentenced to 30 years... you do each and every day of that sentenced. So if this hot nuts is 20 years old.. that means he will be 50 YEARS old before he smells free air or a woman again. I LOVE IT.
im2kraz, you write like you may be some kind of major perv.
No, we weren't perfect teens, but we never came close to armed robbery, murder, coke dealing, stealing and selling vehicles etc.... maybe a sneak out the house every now and then and maybe sneaking a lil booze. There is a difference in a rebellious teens actions and those like this punk coward loser. I am glad the [filtered word] is off the streets and look forward to many more going in for a long long time or coming out feet first, either is fine with me!!!
Actually spdermn10, you do get good time credit in the federal system, up to 20% off of your sentence. Not sure why what high school Jones went to was relevant, other than a misguided attempt to poke the eye of RC public schools. I am a graduate of ARC and so are most of my childhood friends, all of whom have very good jobs, families, and are successful in life. Education, no matter where it is attained, is just like the rest of life: you get out of it what you put into it.
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