South MS career criminal caught in TN, sentenced to life in prison. Here’s why
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- Jackson County judge sentenced Robert Sorel to life without parole.
- The habitual offender status stemmed from violent crime convictions in two states
- The career criminal was arrested after a police pursuit in a Tennessee state park.
A career criminal’s past finally caught up with him in Mississippi when a Jackson County judge sentenced him as a habitual offender to life in prison without parole.
Circuit Judge Keith Miller handed down the sentence against Robert Louis Sorel, 42, of Gulfport, on Monday following his latest felony conviction, this time for a felony offense of embezzlement by trust.
Jackson County sheriff’s deputies started investigating the case after responding to a home in Vancleave in April 2023 in response to a missing vehicle.
After deputies arrived, they learned that Sorel had borrowed a truck from a relative for a “quick in-town trip” four days earlier but hadn’t returned the vehicle, Assistant District Attorney Justin Lovorn said.
Ten days later, Sorel turned up in a Tennessee state park, where he led authorities on a vehicle chase that ultimately led to his arrest there for driving under influence and evading arrest, Lovorn said in a release.
Sorel represented himself in the embezzlement trial, during which he admitted taking the truck but couldn’t explain how he ended up in Tennessee.
A jury deliberated for twenty minutes before returning the verdict.
Before that conviction, Sorel had been convicted of a litany of other violent crimes, including aggravated assault and aggravated armed robbery.
“This sentence is a clear example of how a person’s past will eventually catch up with them,” Lovorn said in a release. “This life sentence will ensure that he is no longer a danger to the citizens of Jackson County.”
Lovorn and Assistant District Attorney Bill Barrett prosecuted the case.
Following the conviction, District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath weighed in on the case: “This defendant’s conviction may have been for a nonviolent property crime, but his criminal history tells the full story —armed robbery, arson, aggravated assault.
“He’s not new to the system, and he’s not someone who made a one-time mistake. He’s a repeat offender who has been given opportunities to change in multiple jurisdictions. Instead, he chose to reoffend again and again.”
Lovorn and Assistant District Attorney Bill Barrett prosecuted the case.
This story was originally published July 29, 2025 at 3:07 PM.
