DA: Cobb robberies land Oklahoma man life sentence | News

A repeat felon from Oklahoma is set to spend the rest of his life in prison over three Marietta robberies in 2016, Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds announced Monday.

On Friday, a Cobb jury convicted 40-year-old Rodney Kinchelle Howell of stealing purses from three women outside three Marietta stores in April of last year. All three robberies occurred in the daytime, and in one instance, a stolen purse yielded a handgun used in a later attack, said Kim Isaza, spokesperson for the DA’s office.

Howell’s codefendant, Cheyenne Nicole Rogers, 23, also of Oklahoma, pleaded guilty earlier this month to charges related to the robberies.

The first robbery occurred at 11 a.m. on April 5, 2016, when Howell and Rogers went to the Walmart on Cobb Parkway near the Big Chicken. As the two followed an 86-year-old woman and her 64-year-old daughter out of the store, Howell grabbed the mother’s purse and ran. Rogers got into a 2007 Cadillac Escalade with Oklahoma tags, and both fled the scene. Investigators later determined that the Escalade had been stolen in Oklahoma, Isaza said.

The next day at noon, the pair went to the Walmart on Cobb Parkway near Terrell Mill Road. This time, a 60-year-old woman was loading groceries into her car when Howell ran through the parking lot and grabbed the woman’s purse. He then ran behind the Walmart, where Rogers picked him up in the Escalade. The stolen purse contained a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun, Isaza said.

A week later, on April 13, the pair targeted a woman at Harry’s Farmers Market, on Powers Ferry Road. At 9:30 that morning, Isaza said, while the woman was at her vehicle’s trunk, Howell pointed a revolver at the woman and demanded her purse. The woman screamed and kicked her wallet at him. Howell again fled on foot and Rogers picked him up in the Escalade.

The pair then went to a QuikTrip, Isaza said, where Howell used the woman’s credit card to buy gas. At another location, Rogers was captured on video attempting to get cash from an ATM, and then buying cigarettes and alcohol with the woman’s bank cards.

Early the next morning, Marietta Police located the Escalade parked at the Stratford Apartments on Delk Road. Both Howell and Rogers were sleeping inside the vehicle, and items taken in the robberies were located in the vehicle. Both were arrested.

“Rodney Howell preyed upon people he knew would not fight back,” Cobb Assistant District Attorney Matt Carlton, who prosecuted the case, told jurors in his closing arguments.

The jury convicted Howell of armed robbery, aggravated assault, two counts of robbery, two counts of financial transaction card fraud, theft by bringing stolen property into the state, and three firearms-possession charge, according to Isaza.

Cobb Superior Court Judge Ann Harris sentenced Howell as a recidivist to life in prison without parole, plus 30 years. Howell has four prior felony convictions, all in Oklahoma, for rape, armed robbery, robbery and grand larceny.

On Aug. 10, Rogers pled guilty to three counts of robbery and two counts of financial transaction card fraud, and she was sentenced to 12 years, with seven years to serve in prison and the rest on probation. Her plea was entered under the First Offender Act.