Georgia Woman Charged on Jewel Heist Spree

(CN) - A 24-year-old Georgia woman has been arrested on charges of conspiracy in relation to jewelry store heists in five southern states.

In a complaint filed by Christopher Canova, the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Florida, Abigail Lee Kemp, of Smyrna, Ga. is accused of conspiring with others to commit armed robberies at jewelry stores located in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee.

According to investigators, the robberies began in April 2015, and in each case, the robber or robbers displayed a handgun, ordered the employees to the back of the store, ordered them to lie face-down on the floor, and bound their hands behind their backs with zip ties.

The robber or robbers then removed hundreds of thousands of dollars-worth of jewelry from the jewelry display cases, the complaint says.

Kemp is scheduled to make an initial court appearance on Thursday in Atlanta.

If convicted, she faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

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