A mother and son were forced into a closet at gunpoint inside their own Gordon Street home before being made to open a safe so an intruder could make off with their jewelry, according to police. The home invasion happened shortly before 11:10 p.m. on July 8 at 201 Gordon Street in LaGrange, and it took investigators a full month to identify and arrest a suspect.
Police have charged 18-year-old Skylar Malik Huzzie in connection with the robbery, arresting him on August 8, exactly one month after the incident, according to 11Alive. Victims Pauline Mattox and her son Kendrick Mattox told officers a masked man armed with a handgun forced his way into their residence and herded them into a closet before compelling them to open a safe, per WSB-TV. The intruder then ran off with the jewelry inside.
A Lengthy List of Charges
Huzzie is facing a substantial slate of charges tied to the case, including two counts of armed robbery, two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of kidnapping, and two counts of false imprisonment. He also faces burglary, elder exploitation, hindering a 911 call, aggravated peeping tom, and a damage charge, according to WSB-TV's reporting. Now Georgia reports that official charge records show additional counts beyond those initial reports, including aggravated battery and criminal damage to property, bringing the total to more than a dozen distinct counts against him.
The elder exploitation charge stems from Georgia law that classifies willful deprivation, intimidation, or illegal use of an elder person's property as a felony. Under Georgia Code § 16-5-102, that offense — which applies to victims 65 or older — is punishable by 1 to 20 years in prison and fines up to $50,000, according to a summary from Georgia Criminal Defense attorneys.
Detectives Worked the Case for a Month
The LaGrange Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division placed Detective Everhart in charge of the case, and investigators worked for a month before apprehending Huzzie, per Now Georgia. Police are still appealing for public tips through the confidential Tip411 system, which residents can reach by texting LAGRANGE to 847411.
Public detention records show this is not Huzzie's first time in custody. He was previously booked into the Troup County Jail on January 14 on a probation violation charge out of LaGrange, according to Recently Booked jail records. He is now being held at the same facility, WSB-TV reports.
Steep Sentencing Exposure Under Georgia Law
The charges Huzzie faces carry some of the harshest sentencing ranges in Georgia's criminal code. Under Georgia Code § 16-8-41, an armed robbery conviction alone carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison without parole for a first offense, with potential penalties extending up to life imprisonment or death, according to case law compiled by FindLaw.
The kidnapping charges add further exposure. Georgia Code § 16-5-40 classifies kidnapping as a major felony carrying mandatory minimum sentences ranging from 10 to 20 years to life imprisonment depending on aggravating circumstances, per a legal explainer from Henrickson & Sereebutra.
A City Already Grappling With Violent Crime
The Gordon Street robbery lands in a city where violent crime already runs well above national norms. FBI crime statistics for 2024 show LaGrange recorded 207 violent crimes among a population of approximately 32,833 residents, a rate of 630.5 per 100,000 people that is about 70 percent above the national average, according to data compiled by PlainCrime. The same FBI data shows LaGrange logged 1,471 property crimes in 2024, giving it a property crime rate of 4,480.2 per 100,000 residents and ranking it 17th highest among Georgia cities with populations over 10,000.
It is unknown whether investigators have recovered the stolen jewelry, whether the victims knew Huzzie before the robbery, or what specific leads led detectives to him a month after the break-in. Those questions remain unanswered in the public record so far. The case follows other recent violent crime arrests LaGrange police have pursued in recent months, including a separate storage burglary spree investigation and a fatal shooting arrest on Dix Street.
