Four plead guilty in 2013 gun heist at Macon’s Bass Pro Shops

Four men from the Atlanta area recently pleaded guilty to a 2013 heist in which 17 firearms were stolen from Macon’s Bass Pro Shops.

Dante Thomas, 32, of Atlanta, Kenneth Atwater, 34, of McDonough, and 23-year-olds Jabari and Tabari Walters, both of East Point, were charged with conspiring to steal from a federal firearms licensee, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Middle District of Georgia.

The men admitted to talking about stealing the firearms on Sept. 29, 2013, before they drove to Macon and parked on the shoulder of Interstate 75 northbound near Bass Pro Shops, the release said.

The four of them ran up the hill to the store and Thomas busted glass out of an emergency door’s window with a crowbar. The men fled in Thomas’ car with 17 guns.

Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives searched Thomas’ apartment and found a yellow crowbar matching the one used in the burglary, the release said. Also, cellphone records indicated Thomas was near Bass Pro Shops in Macon, showing there was a ping off a cellphone tower near the shop.

All four men are set to be sentenced in the coming months.

Each of them faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both, the release said.

This story was originally published November 3, 2016 at 1:04 PM with the headline "Four plead guilty in 2013 gun heist at Macon’s Bass Pro Shops."