Man on probation for Cobb robbery sent back to jail after new felony charges

A man on probation for an armed robbery in Cobb County had his status revoked and was resentenced to jail after authorities said he was accused in a string of other serious crimes.

Superior Court Judge Sonja Brown re-sentenced William Antonio Ellis to a 20-year prison sentence, revoking his first offender status in the process. It is the maximum possible sentence under the law.

In 2013, Ellis pleaded guilty to a crime and was sentenced to 7 years for an incident in which he robbed a juvenile at gunpoint in west Cobb during a planned sale of an iPhone.

Ellis was soon arrested after purportedly boasting about the robbery on social media. Ellis pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of robbery and received a lenient sentence under Georgia’s First Offender Act under a First Offender plea. Ellis was released on parole in 2018, but is now headed back to jail after violating the terms of his probation.

Ellis ran afoul of the law again and was charged with multiple felony drug and weapons offenses in Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina.

Cobb District Attorney Flynn D. Broady said Ellis’ probation period began at the conclusion of his seven-year sentence in 2018. Once on probation, “he soon violated his probation by committing new felony offenses in multiple states.”

In Georgia, Ellis has been charged with trafficking methamphetamine, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and obstruction in DeKalb County. Outside of Georgia, Ellis was charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery and gun charges in Johnson County, Tennessee, and more gun charges in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. His multiple arrests led to a probation revocation hearing in Cobb. During the December hearing, law enforcement officers from all three states where Ellis was arrested testified against him.