CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. -- Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office deputies said a man robbed a restaurant, then called police and claimed he was robbed in an effort to cover up a lie to his girlfriend.

Deputies were dispatched to an armed robbery at the Dominos Pizza on Cumming Highway near Arbor Hill Road Thursday. Witnesses said a man wearing a black mask and black clothing brandished a knife and demanded money. An employee gave the man an undisclosed amount of cash and he fled on foot.

Early Friday morning, police said Billy Prince, 24, of Chamblee, called Canton police and said he had been robbed at a Wachovia Bank in Canton.

Officials said Prince’s story was “extremely suspicious” and he later admitted he had not been robbed.

Canton police officials contacted Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office officials and they determined Prince was the suspect in the restaurant robbery.

Prince later explained to detectives that he was having financial difficulties and had advised his girlfriend that he was coming to Canton to receive and inheritance from a family member that lived in the area, police said. Police said when Prince returned to his home in Chamblee and only had a fraction of what he claimed his inheritance was going to be, he advised his girlfriend that he had been robbed. The girlfriend then urged Prince to file a police report with Canton authorities.

Prince is currently in custody without bond at the Cherokee Adult Detention Center charged with false report of a crime, armed robbery and aggravated assault.

 

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