A College Park man accused of disguising himself as a security guard, a health care worker and even a DoorDash driver to rob metro Atlanta convenience stores and discount retailers at gunpoint was arraigned in federal court in Atlanta on Thursday. Tracy Daryl Mingo, 33, faces 20 federal counts stemming from a string of holdups that prosecutors say targeted ten stores between October 20, 2025, and January 1, 2026.
A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Georgia returned the indictment against Mingo on July 28, leading to Thursday's arraignment, according to 11Alive. Prosecutors say Mingo robbed the stores at gunpoint while wearing a rotating cast of disguises, including a security guard uniform, medical scrubs, construction worker attire, and DoorDash delivery gear, according to CBS News Atlanta. The delivery driver costume in particular gave him a plausible excuse to walk into stores late at night, per WSB-TV.
A Pattern Built Around Vulnerable Closing Shifts
FBI Supervisory Special Agent Matthew Komar said Mingo specifically targeted late-night store closings staffed by female employees, once customer traffic thinned out enough to minimize resistance and witnesses, according to statements reported by FOX 5 Atlanta. Investigators found that Mingo typically walked away with between $2,000 and $3,000 in cash from each robbery over the course of the three-month spree, the outlet reported.
Acting U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said Mingo allegedly endangered the lives of more than a dozen store employees across the ten locations by robbing them at gunpoint. Hertzberg also praised the collaborative efforts of the FBI and local police partners in identifying and arresting Mingo before anyone was seriously hurt, per CBS News Atlanta's reporting.
Caught Mid-Disguise in Doraville
FBI Violent Crime Squad agents arrested Mingo on January 2 in Doraville after spotting him casing another business while allegedly preparing to put on the same security guard disguise he had worn during a Circle K robbery the previous night, prosecutors say. Law enforcement moved quickly once they realized he appeared to be scoping out another target, according to the same FOX 5 Atlanta account.
Following his arrest, Mingo was initially booked into the Fulton County Jail on state charges including armed robbery, kidnapping, aggravated assault and terroristic threats, the outlet's report notes, before federal prosecutors took over the case. He is now held in U.S. Marshals Service custody.
Six Metro Atlanta Departments Joined the Investigation
Building the federal case required cooperation across jurisdictional lines. Six local police departments — College Park, DeKalb County, East Point, Fairburn, Marietta and Union City — partnered with the FBI to investigate and assemble the evidence against Mingo, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia.
Specific holdups tied to the investigation include a mid-December robbery at a Family Dollar on Bouldercrest Road, a December 28 robbery at a Subway in Marietta, and a late-December robbery at a Family Dollar on Candler Road in Decatur. Investigators say the spree stretched across a wide swath of commercial corridors in DeKalb and Cobb counties before Mingo's arrest.
Why the Case Landed in Federal Court
Federal prosecutors are relying on the Hobbs Act to prosecute the robberies because convenience stores, discount retailers and restaurants are legally deemed to affect interstate commerce, giving federal authorities jurisdiction over what might otherwise be handled as local crimes. Mingo faces 20 total counts including Hobbs Act robbery, attempted Hobbs Act robbery, brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, according to CBS News Atlanta.
That combination of charges carries severe consequences under federal sentencing law. Brandishing a firearm during a federal crime of violence carries a mandatory minimum of seven years per count under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), and those terms must run consecutively to any other sentence — a stacking mechanism that leaves Mingo facing a minimum of 63 years in federal prison if convicted.
