Serial Waffle House robber gets 2nd life term

Former Duluth resident charged in 3 robberies.

A man who was already serving life in prison for robbing two Waffle Houses in Gwinnett County was given another life sentence for committing the same crime in Cobb County.

Robbin Jetial Haynes, 23, formerly of Duluth, committed three armed robberies in

about 24 hours, said Cobb Assistant District Attorney Lauryn Perry, who prose- cuted the case.

Haynes and Otis Lee Barnes robbed a Waffle House in the 4800 block of Alabama Road on March 31, 2014, and made off with $400, officials said. According to prosecutors, the men used a firearm and large, orange-handled bolt cutters to rob workers and custom

ers. The men, officials said, had already robbed one Waffle House in Gwinnett. After hitting the Cobb location, they returned to Gwinnett to rob another, Perry said.

Barnes, 25, pleaded guilty to charges in both counties, and was sentenced in Cobb to 10 years in prison and 10 years on probation, said Kim Isaza, the spokeswoman for Cobb District Attorney Vic Reynolds.

Barnes received a lighter sentence for the same crime because he “immediately cooperated with law enforce- ment, accepted responsibil- ity by pleading guilty, and testified truthfully in the Cobb trial,” Isaza said. “Therefore, the state’s recommendation was different.”

Haynes was convicted Friday in Cobb of armed robbery, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during commission of a felony, Isaza said. Haynes will serve his Cobb sentence at the same time he serves the Gwinnett one. He also was sentenced in Cobb to five years for the firearms charge. “He showed a lack of compassion for his victims and a streak of violence that the state believes is reflected in his sentence,” Perry said.