A Sandy Springs man will spend the rest of his life in prison for attacking a pawn shop owner and his family during a violent home invasion.
Mr. Reuben Allen, 32, found guilty Monday, was the last of three men convicted in the case, according to the Fulton County District Attorney’s office.
But he received the stiffest penalty for the 2009 attack in which the family was beaten, bound and robbed at gunpoint in their Roswell home.
Mr. Allen and Mr. James Marino, 28, and the mastermind behind the plot, Mr. James Kaye, 46, were all convicted of armed robbery, aggravated assault and false imprisonment, spokeswoman Ms. Yvette Brown said.
The three targeted a well-known pawnshop owner and waited to ambush him outside his Horseshoe Bend home on Jan. 8.
When the man exited his garage to walk his dog, Mr. Allen and Mr. Marino ambushed and pistol-whipped the business owner, Ms. Brown said.
“The men then stormed the victim’s home where they forced the man’s wife to open the safe,” Ms. Brown said. “The assailants bound the woman with zip-ties then held a gun to the couple’s11-year old son’s head.”
The attackers also choked and threatened the couple’s14-year-old daughter before she was able to break free and call police, Ms. Brown said.
The gunmen fled the scene with money from the home.
Mr. Allen turned himself into police a month later while his accomplice, Mr. Marino, was arrested following broadcasts of his sketch shortly after the attack.
Mr. Allen was sentenced to life plus 20 years in prison.
Mr. Marino pleaded guilty to all counts in July 2009 and received a 15-year prison sentence. Though Mr. Kaye was not one of the attackers, investigators said he planned the attack and directed Mr. Allen and Mr. Marino. He was tried and convicted of being a party to the crime in November 2009 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Mr. Allen, who was sentenced immediately following his conviction on Monday, is not eligible for parole.
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