Tyler Deshawn Lacey, 29, faces an aggravated robbery charge over an Oct. 28 robbery at a Dollar General outside Millington. His bond is $110,000. WREG reported that investigators identified him as one of two suspects; the report did not say whether the other person had been arrested.
Investigators allege the masked, armed men entered the store at 8021 Austin Peay Highway and took $1,100 from the safe and cash register. One allegedly threatened a male employee with a gun and demanded the safe be opened; the other grabbed a female employee by the hair and dragged her behind the counter. The men left in a light-colored SUV, according to WREG. The allegations have not been established in court.
What the phone records do—and don’t—show
WREG reported that investigators obtained a warrant for Lacey’s phone records. The account says the phone’s last recorded activity was at 9:39 p.m. and no further movement was logged until 10:12 p.m.; investigators also placed it about a mile from the store. The reported gap overlaps the robbery, which was reported at about 9:50 p.m., but the account does not identify the type of location data involved. It therefore does not establish continuous GPS tracking or, on its own, show that Lacey was at the store.
The legal context is specific: in its 2018 Carpenter decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the government generally must obtain a warrant supported by probable cause to acquire historical cell-site location information. That ruling does not establish that the records in this investigation were cell-site information or what they show.
Local comparisons have limits
There are separate examples of business-robbery cases in the wider area, but they do not demonstrate a connection to Lacey’s case or a local trend. The Memphis Flyer reported that an employee was shot in the shoulder during an attempted rifle robbery at an Austin Peay Highway gas station in April 2015. In a different Memphis case, WBBJ reported that Laquarius King was sentenced in May 2026 after pleading guilty to five armed business robberies committed between July 2023 and October 2024. Those incidents differ in time, place and circumstances.
For broader trend context, the Memphis Police Department reported a 31% decrease in robberies in Memphis in 2025. That citywide figure does not measure Millington or establish a trend for Shelby County as a whole.
WREG said Lacey was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday. The report did not clarify the status of the second suspect.
