Henry Daily Herald

McDONOUGH — A newspaper carrier with a history of armed robberies and penchant for Newport cigarettes has been arrested for a trio of alleged early morning store stick-ups in July.

Henry County police said Trevio Quantez Head, 28, knew the stores were easy targets because he stocked newspaper machines with copies of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Detective David Arp testified Thursday afternoon during Head's preliminary hearing in Henry Magistrate Court.

"He admitted to robbing the stores," said Arp. "He said he worked a newspaper route and that's why he was out at that time of the morning. He knew the stores were in isolated areas."

Magistrate Wes Shannon bound over three counts of armed robbery to Superior Court for a grand jury presentation. Head is being held without bond in the Henry County Jail and faces charges in connection with a July 10 armed robbery in East Point, said Arp.

Arp testified under direct examination by Assistant Solicitor General Bill McBroom that Head robbed the Marathon on Jodeco Road July 6 and returned July 13 to rob it again. Arp said Head also robbed the Chevron on Eagles Landing Parkway July 7.

In all three cases, police said the robber took cash and Newport cigarettes.

"The defendant told us he smokes Newport cigarettes and smoked the ones he stole," said Arp. "He also gave away some to his friends."

During the July 6 robbery, lottery tickets were also reportedly stolen.

"The defendant took the tickets to the BP on East Lake Parkway about 9:30 that same morning and tried to cash them," Arp said.

Arp said Head was arrested during a traffic stop by an officer who noticed that the white Ford Explorer he was driving matched the description of the one used during the robberies. Police haven't recovered the gun allegedly used because it was seized by College Park police during a previous traffic stop, he said.

"We're working on getting that handgun from College Park," said Arp. "He was stopped last month and charged there for having a weapon because he's a convicted felon."

However, police recovered shoes, caps and clothing allegedly worn during the robberies from Head's Elliott Drive home.

Arp said Head told police he robbed the stores to get money to pay bills.

"He said he worked during the day at a tire shop that didn't pay very much," Arp said.

Clayton County online court records show Head was convicted in October 2001 of armed robbery. Clayton Superior Court Judge Matthew Simmons sentenced Head to 10 years in state prison. Georgia Department of Corrections online records confirm that Head was locked up in December 2001 and was released nearly 10 years later, in September 2011.

Head is being represented by the Flint Circuit Public Defenders Office.

In other court action:

• Two Alabama men were arrested and charged Wednesday with beating up a co-worker at the motel where they were all staying. Johnathan Patrick Carter, 19, of Pelham, Ala., and Matthew Scott Williams, 31, of Hoover, Ala., are charged with aggravated battery, aggravated assault and burglary. They are being held on $25,000 bond in the Henry County Jail.

Henry County police Officer Dow Culberson said the two men lied to the front desk clerk to gain access to a co-worker's room at Microtel.

"They told the clerk they needed to get into the room to get a laptop case and some money," Culberson said. "But there was no laptop case, they made it all up. They went to the room with the intent to beat up their co-worker."

Culberson told Shannon that they'd been drinking and simply attacked the third man, who is from South Carolina.

"They kicked him on the right side of his face with a steel-toed boot and bit him on the nose," he said.

The three worked as sub-contractors for Charter Communications.