Man gets 18 years for robbery during Facebook deal

Terry Lamar Cameron also guilty of kidnapping.

What a 16-year-old girl thought was a Facebook Marketplace transaction turned into an armed robbery in 2021.

The robber is now facing nearly two decades in prison.

Terry Lamar Cameron, 27, was found guilty Wednesday of two counts of armed robbery, two counts of kidnap- ping and hijacking a vehicle in the Atlanta incident. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison, followed by seven years on probation, Fulton County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Pallavi Bailey said in a statement.

The teenager spoke to Cam- eron on the phone and agreed to meet him June 6, 2021, after seeing his Facebook ad for a cellphone. Around 10:30 p.m., she and a friend drove to his Atlanta apartment complex.

Cameron walked up to the car in the parking lot and pulled out a handgun. He then hijacked the vehicle and held both victims at gunpoint, Bailey said. He took their phones, wallets and keys, then sent himself $275 via CashApp from one of the victims’ phones.

Cameron drove around with the victims until around midnight, when Bailey said he forced them out of the vehicle. They were able to call 911 and report the incident after walking to a gas station.

Both were able to identify Cameron in a photo lineup several days later. Investigators also used phone records and the CashApp transaction to connect Cameron to the incident, according to Bailey.

“Stranger-on-stranger violence shakes our communities and instills a terrible sense of fear in people,” District Attorney Fani Willis said in the statement. “I commend the two young victims for working with law enforcement and our office to ensure that the defendant was brought to justice for his crimes.”