A 37-year-old man will spend the next three decades in prison after pleading guilty to charges related to a July 2024 ambush of two Toccoa police officers and subsequent kidnapping. Mountain Judicial Circuit Court Chief Judge Russell “Rusty” Smith sentenced Montavious Cantrell Winkfield to 30 years in prison, followed by 30 years of supervision without the possibility of parole or early release.
Winkfield pleaded guilty on Tuesday in Stephens County Superior Court to two counts of aggravated assault on a peace officer, armed robbery, false imprisonment, kidnapping, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
The charges stem from a violent incident on July 1 where Winkfield opened fire on Toccoa police Sgt. Kyle White and Officer Justin Roberts, a field training officer with four days of patrol experience, while they were conducting a traffic stop on Diagonal Street. During the stop, prosecutors say Winkfield exited the Jeep Cherokee he was in and fired approximately five shots at the officers and their patrol vehicle from close range. Officer Roberts returned fire, but Winkfield fled the scene uninjured.
After fleeing, Winkfield forced Ricky Smith, 62, into Smith’s vehicle at gunpoint and struck him.
“Winkfield then took possession of the truck and kept Mr. Smith against his will as a passenger while Mr. Winkfield navigated between Lavonia, Carnesville, and Commerce,” states a news release from the Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office.
Winkfield was eventually arrested without incident after joint efforts of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Stephens County Sheriff’s Office, Toccoa Police Department, Lavonia Police Department, and Georgia State Patrol.
Judge Smith sentenced Winkfield based on the plea recommendation presented by the district attorney’s office.
