Other offenses, gang affiliation played into sentencing of first conviction back from COVID-19 emergency

The sentence is in, and Aaron Arrington will be spending the rest of his life in jail, according to prosecutors involved in the case after a hearing Monday determined the fate of the man convicted for an armed robbery that took place in Cedartown in 2020.

Arrington, 28, was convicted in June for the Gulf gas station armed robbery that took place in January 2020 after a trial headed by Senior Judge Walter Matthews in June in the Tallapoosa Circuit Superior Court. In a hearing held earlier in the day, Arrington received a term of life in prison. He

will have to serve at least 30 years before he would be available to seek parole.

In a release about the armed robbery, Chief Assistant District Attorney Jaeson Smith described how Arrington was accused and later convicted of entering the South Main Street Gulf gas station at 3:30 a.m. on January 14, 2020. He reported that during the early morning robbery, Arrington demanded money at gunpoint and then during the incident fired a shot over the convenience store clerk’s head.

A good samaritan happened upon Arrington fleeing the scene and followed him in his car from the gas station to an address on Akes Station Road.

Police arrived shortly after and took Arrington into custody, found him in the same clothing and wearing the same necklace he was seen in during the robbery, and also found the bag of money he took during the January 2020 incident.

Smith reported that the hearing held earlier in the day heard comments from himself and Arrington’s attorney before the sentence was set by Judge Matthews.

Along with the nature of the crime itself, Smith said that Arrington’s previous record that included an aggravated assault against his then-pregnant girlfriend and unborn child and proven affiliation with the Ghostface Gangsters makes him “too dangerous to be released back into the community.”

“During the hearing, Judge Matthews noted he has witnessed “no form of remorse” in Mr. Arrington,” the release stated.

Additionally, Smith said afterward that “We are glad the judge went with our recommendation of a life sentence. The District Attorney’s Office has spent the last year building relationships with gang experts across the state and we are happy to see those relationships paying dividends. Polk County citizens should not fear walking down the sidewalk or walking into a store because of gang members in our community.”

Judge Matthews is assisting the Tallapoosa Circuit Superior Court while it continues to catch up with criminal cases that occurred while the courts were shut down during the COVID-19 judicial emergency following the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

Arrington was convicted on the charges of armed robbery and aggravated assault.