Powder Springs man found guilty in a 2018 armed robbery in Cobb was sentenced to at least 12 years in prison on Tuesday.
Romero Lindley received a 20-year sentence with 12 to be served in custody. Lindley was found guilty of two counts of armed robbery and one count of criminal attempt to commit a felony on Dec. 9 of last year.
Lindley’s charges stemmed from a home invasion incident on June 5, 2018, when Cobb police were dispatched to an armed robbery in progress at an apartment located in Marietta. A neighbor said at the time that four armed men entered the apartment. During an investigation into the incident, three victims and the neighbor told the officers that two of the men drove away prior to police arrival, while the other two fled through the woods toward a church parking lot, prosecutors said.
Officers found Lindley hiding in bushes near the apartment following a K-9 tracking. He was found with a black ski mask and black sweatpants, which contained one of the victim’s necklaces, per prosecutors. The ski mask, found within arm’s reach of Lindley, was sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for DNA matching, and found to contain Lindley’s saliva. In Lindley’s arrest warrant from 2018, he was accused of taking a laptop, a Louis Vuitton travel bag and approximately $300 from the residence.
Prosecutors said one victim testified at trial and stated that Lindley “put a gun to [his] forehead and took the necklace right off [his] neck.”
Lindley was arrested again last May, accused in an arrest warrant of jumping bail by fleeing to South Carolina after he failed to appear in Cobb Superior Court on the armed robbery charges.
In 2019, Lindley’s co-defendant Marcellis Richardson pleaded guilty to charges related to the incident. Another co-defendant, Donquail Williams, pleaded guilty to charges in 2021.
Democrats Nichelle Davis and Becky Sayler were sworn in as the two newest members of the Cobb County Board of Education on Thursday.
Sayler, who previously taught English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) in Cobb and now teaches preschool, represents Post 2. She replaces Democrat Dr. Jaha Howard, who did not seek reelection after a single term in order to run for state school superintendent, a race he lost.
Sayler won 68.6% of the vote in the November general election to Republican Stephen George, Jr.’s 31.4%.
Davis, meanwhile, was a Teach for America teacher before becoming a staffer at the education nonprofit Achieve Atlanta, and represents Post 6. She replaces Democrat Charisse Davis, who decided against running for reelection after serving one term.
Sayler was sworn in by Cobb State Court Judge Ashley Palmer, while Davis was sworn in by Cobb Superior Court Judge Kellie Hill.
Sayler told the MDJ two of her priorities on the board will be expanding pre-K and revising a policy passed in July that paved the way for armed, non-police security personnel at schools, which was billed as a way to improve safety in case of a mass shooting. Sayler added that, as a former ESOL teacher, she is passionate about the district’s dual-language immersion program, which enables students to develop literacy skills in English and a foreign language at the same time. Davis said she will prioritize “building relationships” as she begins her term on the board.
At their first meeting, Sayler and Davis got a taste of the partisan divide on the board, with party-line votes leading to the election of the new board chair, Republican Brad Wheeler, and vice chair, Republican David Banks.
A vote on the board meeting calendar also passed 4-3, with the Republican members in favor and Democrats opposed.
The discussion for instant replay at the high school state championship football games will begin in earnest Monday.
It is one of the items that will be talked about at the Georgia High School Association Board of Trustees’ meeting in Thomaston.
During a news conference last month to announce that the GHSA’s football state championships would be moved to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, executive director Robin Hines said the issue of replay would be looked into.
The topic came into the forefront following the Class AAA title game between Sandy Creek and Cedar Grove.
A touchdown was allowed to stand despite the Georgia Public Broadcasting television replay showing that the Sandy Creek ball-carrier appeared to be tackled at the 1-yard line. Sandy Creek went on to win the game 21-17.
With playing the title games in an NFL stadium, it gives the GHSA an opportunity to potentially utilize its system to make sure calls are correctly made in the biggest games of the year. Hines also said he hopes he would be able to use the games in August’s season-opening Corky Kell Classic — also at Mercedes-Benz Stadium — as a trial for the state championships.
Another item that will be discussed by the GHSA Board of Trustees is a motion brought forth by the Fulton County School System to do away with the minimum seating requirements for schools to host state semifinal football playoff games.
This year, three state semifinal games involving Fulton County schools had to be moved to neutral sites because the host schools’ stadium capacities did not meet the GHSA’s minimum standard of 6,000.
Milton, whose stadium seats 3,000, was set to host Mill Creek in one Class AAAAAAA semifinal.
After numerous discussions of options, which included the possibility of Mill Creek agreeing to waive the seating requirement or moving the band seating into the end zone to open up additional seating space, the game was played at Lakewood Stadium in Atlanta, with a 5 p.m. scheduled start.
It became the first game of a semifinal doubleheader, which was followed by Hughes, another Fulton County school that could not fulfill the GHSA seating requirement, facing Rome at 8 p.m.
The other Class AAAAAAA semifinal between Roswell and Gainesville was moved to McEachern’s Walter Cantrell Stadium.
Ethan Bourdon became the first child to ride Kennesaw’s brand-new swing at Swift-Cantrell Park, one that allows kids with disabilities to get in on the fun.
Bourdon’s mother, Shawna Grimes, told the MDJ this is “huge” for Bourdon, who is wheelchair-bound with a rare genetic disorder, MeCP2 Duplication Syndrome.
Mayor Derek Easterling said the swing’s ribbon-cutting was the culmination of a five-year effort by the city to transform the park, located on Old Highway 41 across from Kennesaw Elementary School, into one that is inclusive of all children.
According to the city, the park is home to one of the largest inclusive playgrounds in the country. It includes 40 feet of shade, wheelchair accessible ramps that lead to a ropes tower, sensory stations, an eight-person, wheelchair-accessible, swaying structure, a slide and the new swing.
About $450,000 from the city’s 2016 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax projects was put toward upgrading the 18,500-square-foot park with features that would make it accessible for all under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Easterling said Kennesaw Councilman Pat Ferris had first lobbied for the inclusive swing after the idea for making the park inclusive of those with disabilities came up about five years ago.
The swing, which was the final touch on the park’s upgrades, came together thanks to Ferris and Kennesaw resident Ann Pratt, who is active in the North Cobb Civitan and was recognized by the city in June 2022 for her leadership.
The swing was made possible by a grant from T-Mobile, created to fund improvement projects for small towns across the U.S. Kennesaw received a grant of roughly $47,000 to implement the swing.
Former Hillgrove point guard Jeremiah Wilkinson committed this week to play his college basketball at Mississippi State.
Wilkinson, a 6-foot, 175-pound junior from Powder Springs who now plays at The Skill Factory, a basketball developmental organization in Atlanta, posted his decision on social media Wednesday.
Wilkinson was the first commitment to Mississippi State from the class of 2024. The three-star recruit selected the Bulldogs over a number of other Division I programs, including Georgia State, Florida, Mississippi, Butler, Murry State, Rice and Saint Louis, among others. He was also garnering interest from interest from Marquette, Loyola-Chicago and Providence.
Wilkinson is averaging 14.3 points, 3.1 assists and 3.1 rebounds a game this season against similar basketball prep programs. Last year, he helped lead Hillgrove to a 23-4 record, averaging a team-high 16.8 points per game to go with 4.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists.
Jordan Ridley is ready to hit the ground running as one of newest members to represent Cobb and Cherokee counties in the Georgia House.
Ridley is “super great guy,” according to Cobb GOP Chair Salleigh Grubbs. Ridley, 30, was elected to represent House District 22 in November with 14,685 votes, or 61.5%, to Democrat Stacee Hill’s 9,190 votes, or 38.5%. Ridley won 52.4% of the vote in Cobb. Ridley replaces Wes Cantrell, a Republican from Woodstock, who decided not to seek reelection after eight years under the Gold Dome.
Before the 2020 redistricting cycle, House District 22 included eastern Cherokee County and a slice of southwest Forsyth County. Under the redrawn legislative map, Ridley will represent southwest Cherokee County and a sliver of north Cobb.
A Cherokee County native, Ridley went to Etowah High School before attending Georgia State University, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in public policy.
Previously, Ridley served as the chair of the Cherokee County Republican Party from 2021 to 2022. Before that, he was a legislative aide for state Representative Charlice Byrd, a Republican from Woodstock, who represents House District 20.
Ridley said he looks forward to leveraging the connections he established while working for Byrd in the General Assembly. Ridley worked on a wide range of issues as Byrd’s aide, and he said appropriations is his biggest interest entering the 2022 session.
That said, Ridley is looking to take advantage of other work experience in his new role. On his preference sheet for committee assignments, he listed the Game, Fish, and Parks Committee — Ridley was a park ranger for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and worked for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
#CobbCounty #Georgia #LocalNews
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