A Paris man was sentenced to 50-years in prison on Friday after pleading guilty to Aggravated Robbery relating to an incident in May 2023, where he held a store owner at gun point, demanding cash.
According to reports, 57-year old George Young entered an antique store on the Paris downtown square in May 2023, pointed a gun at the owner, and demanded that she give him money from the cash register.
The woman gave the defendant $70 and immediately called the police as he left. The defendant was recorded on surveillance leaving the store and, ditching his jacket and gun in an alley just south of the Lamar County Courthouse, and then going inside the courthouse. Courthouse surveillance video showed the defendant going to the District Clerk’s office on the 4th floor to pay a fine in one of his other cases. Paris police officers quickly tracked the defendant to his house and arrested him. Detectives eventually obtained a confession from the defendant.
“Young’s criminal career spans over forty years,” said District Attorney Gary Young. “He first went to prison for car theft in 1982, followed by a 35 year sentence for aggravated robbery in 1983, a 10 year sentence for escape, a 5 year sentence in 1997 for arson, and a 15 year sentence in 2015 for burglary.”
Because of the aggravated offense, the defendant must serve at least 25 years of the 50 year sentence before being eligible for parole. He will be 82 years old when finally eligible for parole.
“This sentence spares the victim from having to testify, saves the taxpayers the time and expense of a trial, and means that (George) Young is unlikely to ever see the outside of prison again,” added (Gary) Young. “Law enforcement did an outstanding job in locating the defendant and obtaining a confession from him. Our community will be safer with George Young off the streets again.”
The case was prosecuted by DA Gary Young. George Young was represented by Jerry Coyle.
Young and Young are not related.
