Athens gangster acquitted by jury arrested hours later for allegedly committing new crime

Sherod Laderick Porter

By Joe Johnson

A known Athens street gang member who last week stood trial for an armed robbery was arrested several hours after his acquittal for allegedly trying to break into an apartment.

Sherod Laderick Porter, 20, of Westchester Circle, was charged on Thursday with the new offenses of first-degree burglary and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

Authorities have identified Porter as a member of the 52 Hoover Gangster Crips street gang.

He stood trial last week in Clarke County Superior Court for an armed robbery that occurred in June 2021 on Nellie B Avenue in which a pistol was stolen from the victim.

The jury returned verdicts of not guilty on all counts Thursday afternoon, and Porter was arrested at about 6 p.m. that day at University Oaks apartments off West Broad Street, where police said he and another suspect were breaking into someone’s apartment when they were scared off by a Ring camera. Both suspects were arrested by officers who were in the complex at the time.

Porter told the arresting officers that he and his alleged accomplice thought the apartment was empty and that they planned to go inside to smoke marijuana.

He is being held without bail in pretrial detention at the Clarke County Jail.