COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A disgraced ex-Atlanta police officer is preparing to spend the next decade in prison after he plead guilty to his role in a 2019 armed robbery involving a rising rapper and another man.

Court records in Cobb County show Justin Mikale Thorne, 26, pleaded guilty to multiple felony charges earlier this month after he admitted he played a role in the armed robbery of Freddie Gladney III, who is also known by his rap name “Bankroll Freddie.”

Thorne’s attorney, Lenny Franco, declined comment, but during a bond hearing for his client in 2019, he told the judge his client got involved because someone had threatened the ex-cop and his family.

It was just after 11 a.m. on October 17, 2019 when police responded to reports of an armed robbery at the Comfort Inn and Suites, near The Battery in Cobb County.

When officers arrived, they spoke with Gladney and his cousin about the violent encounter.

Surveillance photos show Thorne backing into a parking spot at the motel, where he appears to be talking with two men in a Toyota Camry.

Minutes later, surveillance photos and videos show Thorne dressed in his APD uniform, along with a badge and gun, walking around the fourth floor and serving as a lookout as the two men robbed Gladney and his cousin.

Right now, it’s unclear if Gladney and Thorne knew each other.

It’s also unclear if the two men are facing charges.

Two weeks before the armed robbery, Thorne resigned from APD amid an internal affairs investigation into allegations he offered to take payment from a suspect with an outstanding warrant in exchange for making the warrant go away.

In an unrelated case, Gladney was arrested last November in Arkansas by FBI agents after being named in one of three indictments that charged 80 people with crimes ranging from conspiracy to distributing narcotics, to a weapons violation.

Gladney was one of 35 people indicted in association with the street gang “Every Body Killas” (EBK), which is active in central Arkansas, according to reporting by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Gladney is signed under the Atlanta-based label Quality Control Music, which represents acts, including Migos, Lil Yachty, Lil Baby, Cardi B, and City Girls.

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