Cobb County

Cobb woman pleads guilty to multistate jewelry heists

By Ellen Eldridge, AJC

Abigail Lee Kemp could face a life sentence for each count of using a firearm while robbing the stores. (Credit: Federal Bureau of Investigation)

By Ellen Eldridge, AJC

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A Cobb County woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to robbing jewelry stores in Georgia and two other states.

Abigail Lee Kemp, 25, told a federal court in Panama City, Fla., that she participated in heists in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, according to the Panama City News Herald.

She was arrested in Smyrna in January.

Kemp previously pleaded guilty to conspiring with Lewis Jones III, 36, and brothers Larry Bernard Gilmore, 44, and Michael Bernard Gilmore, 47, in the robbery of a jewelry store at Pier Park in Panama City and she testified against the men in an attempt to receive leniency from the court.

Lewis Jones III (Credit: DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office)

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 13 and Kemp could face up to 20 years in prison for each count of interfering with commerce, a $250,000 fine for each and restitution for jewels not recovered.

She also could face a life sentence for each count of using a firearm while robbing the stores.

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In April 2015, Kemp robbed Jared’s Vault at a Woodstock outlet mall with another man. She was captured on store surveillance video in athletic gear.

The man ordered store employees into a bathroom and zip-tied their hands together, while she lay on the floor acting as a lookout. Kemp then rises and acts as a lookout while the man pilfers display cases.

In August 2015, Kemp is the one seen pulling a handgun at the Zales Outlet in Dawsonville. Again, employees are forced into a back room and zip-tied, jewelry stolen. She ran when a customer entered the store.

Over the next five months, four similar robberies — and one attempt in Macon — were reported in Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee and North Carolina, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.

In each incident, Kemp was armed.

An estimated $4 million worth of jewelry was stolen and is still missing.

Cox Media Group

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