Quantavious Cedron Arnold and Ericka Brewster have been sentenced to federal prison for carrying out a two-week crime spree during which justice department officials say they robbed a bank and fled in a car Arnold had stolen at gunpoint just two days earlier.
“Outstanding coordination between the FBI and local law enforcement ended Arnold’s crime spree,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. “This office will continue to target individuals like Arnold and Brewster who perpetrate, abet, and seek to profit from violent crime in our community.”
According to U.S. Attorney Buchanan, the charges and other information presented in court: On November 12, 2019, Arnold and two other people perpetrated a carjacking outside a convenience store in southwest Atlanta. Arnold threatened his victim with a semiautomatic pistol equipped with an extended magazine before he and his accomplices stole the man’s car.
Two days later, on November 14, 2019, Department of Justice officials say Arnold used the stolen car to drive himself and his girlfriend, Brewster, to a bank branch in DeKalb County. Arnold and Brewster entered the bank and waited in line until Arnold approached the teller counter, pulled out a gun, and threatened to kill people unless the teller surrendered thousands of dollars of cash. After pocketing the money, Arnold and Brewster fled from the bank and back into the stolen car, which they later abandoned.
A week later, an Atlanta police officer located and arrested Arnold in a wooded area down the block from the store where Arnold had committed the carjacking just ten days earlier. At the time of his arrest, Arnold had the gun used during the bank robbery, a distribution quantity of crack cocaine, and a digital scale. FBI agents arrested Brewster later.
“Both Arnold and Brewster have extensive violent criminal histories, and once again put innocent civilians at risk during the span of their two-week crime spree,” said Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “The sentence demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to work with our local law enforcement partners to convict these repeat offenders at the federal level, where they face stiffer penalties and no opportunity for parole.”
Both Arnold and Brewster are convicted felons with extensive criminal histories. Brewster’s history includes convictions for fraud, theft, and forgery offenses. Arnold’s history includes repeated convictions for unlawful gun possession, drug trafficking, and violent crimes, such as aggravated assault, battery, and burglary. Both defendants were serving multiple terms of state probation when they committed their federal crimes. Arnold had been sentenced to two of those probation terms less than four months before he committed the carjacking and bank robbery.
“Keeping the citizens and visitors of the City of Atlanta is a priority for the Atlanta Police Department. The convictions of Quantavious Cedron Arnold and Ericka Brewster sends a resounding message to criminals that violent crimes will not be tolerated in our city,” said Atlanta Interim Police Chief Darin Schierbaum. “The Atlanta Police Department is proud of the effort put forth by investigators to bring these criminals to justice. The sentencing of repeat offenders proves the effectiveness of our law enforcement partnerships, the dedication of the members of the various agencies, and our commitment to solving and closing cases.”
U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May sentenced the defendants as follows:
- Quantavious Cedron Arnold, 30, of Atlanta, was sentenced on June 14, 2022, to 25 years of imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $8,200 in restitution. Arnold was convicted at trial on January 14, 2022, of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Before the trial, he pled guilty to carjacking, armed bank robbery, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and two counts of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.
- Ericka Brewster, 31, of Jonesboro, was sentenced on November 12, 2020, to four years, six months of imprisonment, to be followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $8,200 in restitution. Brewster pled guilty on November 6, 2020, to one count of armed bank robbery.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Atlanta Police Department, DeKalb County Police Department, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Theodore S. Hertzberg and Annalise K. Peters prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods. In keeping with the Attorney General’s mission to reduce violent crime, the Northern District of Georgia’s PSN program focuses on prosecuting those individuals who most significantly drive violence in our communities and supports and fosters partnerships between law enforcement and schools, the faith community, and local community leaders to prevent and deter future criminal conduct.
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