A brutal home invasion robbery in the Eagle Landing area of Oakleaf has led to five arrests.
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office says the victim of this crime and his wife were apparently targeted because of social media posts about the cosmetology business she ran from their home. CCSO says the photos are what some people may consider to be bragging or flaunting their wealth.
“Unfortunately, there are members of society that prey on people who are successful, or have done better than they have. And this is a case where they found somebody who had something that they wanted, and judging from what we have learned during the investigation, they would not have stopped at anything to achieve that. And our victim in this case is very lucky to be alive at this point,” according to CCSO Lieutenant Mike Layne.
The incident report shows the victim told investigators that the suspects said he should stop flaunting all his money on social media.
Incident reports show this plan allegedly started when 19-year-old Brandy Edward saw a large amount of cash in the home where the business was being run. CCSO says she gave information on the woman running the business to 25-year-old Juwan Grier, with the intention of orchestrating a robbery.
Grier, 20-year-old Bobby Dunbar, and 23-year-old Demar Priestly allegedly forced their way in to that home on May 19th. The incident report says the woman's husband was sleeping, when he heard enough noise to wake him up, and he found the suspects- including one who was armed- who started beating him.
The incident reports show the suspects repeatedly pushed the victim to give them money and ransacked the home in the process. At one point, the victim allegedly told them money was in a drawer where he knew he had a gun, so he could try to get that gun to defend himself. Instead, CCSO says the suspects got the gun.
“Facial injuries, he had been kicked, punched, he had been tied up with zip ties, he had actually had a firearm placed in his mouth as a form of threat of violence. They’re very lucky, even by accident, that it didn’t go off at that point. And then he was pepper sprayed on top of everything else,” Layne says.
The victim ultimately pointed the suspects to where he had a hidden bag of money, which the incident report says totaled around $140,000. CCSO says they have since recovered or accounted for nearly all of the money.
“They bought cars, they’ve taken trips. We have all sorts of evidence the suspects have been living extravagantly for the last couple of weeks, due to the sudden influx of cash,” Layne says.
19-year-old Skylar Albritton agreed to come forward to investigators after the robbery and showed them text messages from Grier bragging about the robbery, according to the incident reports. While speaking with investigators, that report says Albritton admitted she was supposed to be the driver for the robbery and had even met with the three men, but they decided to postpone at that time. She allegedly told CCSO she was disgruntled that she was left out of the robbery and, therefore, didn’t make money from it.
Albritton was allegedly paid $5,000 by the victim, to convince her to come forward and give information on the suspects involved.
Grier was then tracked down and interviewed, and CCSO says he ultimately admitted to being in the home at the time of the robbery, and also identified the two others allegedly involved- Dunbar and Priestly. The incident report says he named Edward as the person who orchestrated the crime. Edward allegedly admits to what happened, saying the crime “was all her fault”.
19-year-old Skylar Albritton was arrested May 21st for home invasion with a firearm or deadly weapon.
25-year-old Juwan Grier was arrested May 22nd for home invasion with a firearm or deadly weapon, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, grand theft, and false imprisonment.
20-year-old Bobby Dunbar was arrested May 29th for home invasion with a firearm or deadly weapon, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, grand theft, false imprisonment, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
19-year-old Brandy Edward was arrested Tuesday for conspiracy to commit armed home invasion robbery.
23-year-old Demar Priestly was arrested Tuesday for home invasion with a firearm or deadly weapon, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, grand theft, false imprisonment, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.