By Scott Buttram
BIRMINGHAM — Jamey Lee Matthews, 41, of Remlap was sentenced to 25 years in prison after terrorizing northeast Jefferson County, including Clay and Grayson Valley, in a series of armed robberies in October 2012.
Matthews wore a devil mask and brandished a gun when he robbed Tyner’s Pharmacy in Grayson Valley and Winn Dixie and Rogers in Clay in October of 2012. The two Clay businesses were robbed on the same night.
Masked gunman robs Winn Dixie in Clay
At Roger’s, Matthews shot at employees and customers, striking one customer five times, as they chased him. That customer testified at the sentencing hearing that he still has two pellets in his hip, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s sixth district office.
U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre sentenced Matthews after he entered into a plea agreement with the government. Bowdre also ordered Matthews to pay $202,000 in restitution for medical expenses to the man he shot, and $6,000 to the stores he robbed.
In October of 2014, Matthews pleaded guilty to four counts of robbery under the federal Hobbs Act, which involves robbery affecting interstate commerce, one count of armed pharmacy robbery, and one count of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, according to the statement.
In addition to the Grayson Valley and Clay robberies, Matthews pleaded guilty to robbing Mike’s Quick Stop on the Pinson Valley Parkway and Dollar General in Trafford. All of the robberies took place in October of 2012.
Matthews was arrested after investigators received information from authorities in Blount County that a man had fallen from a cliff and been critically injured, according to a statement from the sheriff’s department.
“He had crawled to a nearby home to get help,” Jefferson County chief deputy Randy Christian said. “They found items in his vehicle that led them to believe he may have been involved on these robberies. The man was transported to a Birmingham hospital. Detectives executed search warrants on the subject’s vehicle and his residence.”
The vehicle was registered to Matthew’s mother. The U.S. attorney’s statement said four firearms, a customer’s check written to Roger’s on Oct. 19, and pill bottles from Tyner’s Pharmacy were found in the truck. Ballistics tests later matched shell cases recovered from the Roger’s robbery to a Rossi .410-caliber shotgun found in the truck.
The FBI and ATF investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney John B. Felton prosecuted.
