Final Defendant Sentenced in 2016 Robbery Spree in Haywood County, Tennessee

Jackson, TN – Cordarious Baltimore, 30, of Brownsville, Tennessee, was sentenced to 246 months in federal prison after his conviction for multiple robberies and firearm offenses.  Baltimore was the final defendant to be sentenced regarding a series of 2016 business robberies which occurred in and around Brownsville. Kevin G. Ritz, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, announced the sentencing today. 

According to the information presented in court, over a period of five days in April 2016, three businesses in the Brownsville, Haywood County area were robbed by two masked men armed with pistols.  During this time, two different shootings occurred where 9mm shell casings and a .22 LR shell casing were recovered by the Brownsville Police Department on the scenes.  

On April 25, 2016, after the robbery of a truck stop, deputies with the Haywood County Sheriff's Department collected clothing on a nearby road that was worn by the armed robbers.  Deputies sent those items of evidence to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) for DNA analysis, which in 2018 linked Baltimore’s co-conspirators, Lacey Jeter and Johnny Lee Nixon, Jr., to the clothing. 

On April 26, 2016, officers with the Brownsville Police Department observed a vehicle that matched the description of the vehicle seen leaving the scene of the earlier truck stop robbery and initiated a traffic stop.  After a brief chase, the vehicle crashed in rural Haywood County and the occupants of the vehicle fled leaving behind two pistols similar to ones described by witnesses to the recent robberies.  The Brownsville Police Department collected the firearms and TBI Agents were able to confirm that the shell casings recovered after the shootings were fired from one of the firearms recovered near the scene of the crash.  

In October 2022, Baltimore pled guilty to conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, commission of Hobbs Act robbery, brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, and three counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.  On September 12, 2024, United States District Court Judge J. Daniel Breen sentenced Baltimore to 246 months incarceration followed by 5 years of supervised release on September 12, 2024.  There is no parole in the federal system. 

Jeter pled guilty and was sentenced in April 2022.  Nixon was convicted by a jury and was sentenced to 160 months incarceration and 5 years supervised release in February 2020. 

United States Attorney Ritz said: “This defendant’s serious violent crimes justify this significant federal prison sentence.  Our citizens deserve to feel safe in their communities, and that is why this office will continue to work with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners to vigorously enforce federal firearm and robbery laws.” 

The Haywood County Sheriff’s Department said: “The Haywood County Sheriff’s Office is glad to be involved in the resolution of this case against Cordarious Baltimore.  One of the goals of the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office is to make all residents and visitors to Haywood County feel safer from the criminal element and achieving a conviction in this incident falls within that goal of the agency.  We appreciate the assistance of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives in this investigation, and the efforts of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee in helping achieve the greatest amount of time allowable under law for those involved in violent crimes, especially gun crimes.” 

This case was investigated by the Haywood County Sheriff’s Department, Brownsville Police Department, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the United States Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. 

United States Attorney Ritz thanked Assistant United States Attorney Hillary Parham who prosecuted this case on the government’s behalf, as well as the law enforcement partners who investigated this case.

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For more information, please contact the Media Relations Team at USATNW.Media@usdoj.gov. Follow the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Facebook or on X at @WDTNNews for office news and updates.