State Attorney Bill Eddins' office reports Markett Devon Simpkins, Sr., was sentenced by Circuit Judge John Miller to 25 years in State Prison. Simpkins was convicted on December 8, 2015, by a Santa Rosa County Jury of two counts of Burglary of a Structure causing more than $1,000 damage to said structure, Possession of Burglary Tools and Resisting an Officer without Violence.
On November 24, 2014, officers from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and Pensacola Police Department were conducting surveillance on individuals involved in a string of burglaries to businesses. Those burglaries involved breaking into safes and ATM units. The surveillance led officers to the Eglin Federal Credit Union ATM facility located in the 8500 block of Navarre Parkway in the Soundview Plaza Shopping Center. Officers conducting surveillance saw three individuals: Markett Simpkins, Noral Scott, and Donald Robinson enter the building at the Eglin Federal Credit Union ATM facility while another suspect, Johnnie Lee, drove around as a lookout. When officers converged on the building, they discovered the suspects had cut a hole in the wall and entered into an adjacent pet grooming business. The three suspects, including Simpkins, were located in the attic of the pet grooming business and were removed by officers from the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team. Several wires were cut on the outside of the building in an attempt to disarm the security system. Additional damage was done to the walls, doors and ceilings of the businesses.
Simpkins has also been charged with three other burglaries in Santa Rosa County involving banks and ATMs and is set for docket day on February 2, 2016. Simpkins also has two pending cases in Escambia County for similar offenses and is scheduled for docket day in Escambia County on February 17, 2016.
Donald Robinson pled no contest on July 31, 2015 to the same charges that Simpkins was convicted of, two counts of Burglary of a Structure causing more than $1,000 damage to said structure, Possession of Burglary Tools and Resisting an Officer without Violence and was sentenced to 10 years in state prison.
Noral Scott pled no contest on October 23, 2015 to the same charges that Simpkins was convicted of, two counts of Burglary of a Structure causing more than $1,000 damage to said structure, Possession of Burglary Tools and Resisting an Officer without Violence and is scheduled to be sentenced on February 18, 2016.
Johnnie Lee’s Santa Rosa case for these same charges, two counts of Burglary of a Structure causing more than $1,000 damage to said structure, Possession of Burglary Tools and Resisting an Officer without Violence, is scheduled for docket day on February 26, 2017. Lee also has several pending burglary cases in Escambia County that are scheduled for docket day on February 17, 2016.
These cases were prosecuted by Assistant State Attorney Zachary Brost.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Simpkins sentenced to 25 years