Teenage bandit receives probation for armed robbery attempt on UGA campus

By Joe Johnson

An Athens teenager has received probation after pleading guilty to an attempted armed robbery last year on the University of Georgia campus.

In a plea agreement recently finalized with the district attorney’s office, 18-year-old Jeremiah Scott pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, criminal attempt to commit armed robbery, possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony, possession in a firearm by a person under 18, and possession of a weapon in a school safety zone.

In accordance with the plea deal, Scott was given a 20-year sentence, with the first four years in confinement suspended upon GPS ankle monitoring while under house arrest for one year.

According to the UGA Police Department, the 19-year-old victim gave the following account of the February 2024 incident:

She was looking at her phone while walking on South Lumpkin Street in the area of the Hill Hall pedestrian crosswalk when Scott accosted her with a semiautomatic pistol.

Holding the gun at the student's head, the teen threatened to shoot if she didn't give him the phone. He explained that he wanted it because he was in need of money.

Telling Scott that a friend had an extra phone that she could get for him, the student called the friend in Hill Hall and in Korean -- so that the masked gunman wouldn't understand what she was saying -- told about how she was being held at gunpoint and provided a physical description of the suspect to include the black and white camouflage sweatshirt that he was wearing.

The friend told the dorm’s resident assistant what was happening and the RA relayed the information to UGA police.

When officers arrived in the area they saw Scott and chased after when he ran, arresting him at gunpoint near the basketball court at the Myers Hall quad.