Source: US FBI
WASHINGTON – Kamanye Williams, 26, a previously convicted felon residing in the District of Columbia, was sentenced today to 198 months in federal prison for his role as the gunman in seven inside-job robberies of a Walgreens drug store in the District’s Chinatown neighborhood, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
Williams pleaded guilty on March 11 to conspiracy to interfere with interstate commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act robbery) and pleaded guilty to two counts of using, carrying, possessing, and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence and aiding and abetting.
In addition to the 198-month prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Jia M. Cobb ordered Williams to serve five years of supervised release and to pay $7,245.75 in restitution.
Joining in the announcement were FBI Special Agent in Charge Reid Davis of the Washington Field Office Criminal Division and Chief Pamela A. Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department.
Williams, Gianni Robinson, and Walgreen’s store managers Michael Robinson and London Teeter committed the inside-job robberies during a nearly eight-month period.on July 18, 2023, Aug. 2, 2023, Sept. 2, 2023, Nov. 10, 2023, Dec. 4, 2023, Jan. 9, 2024, and Feb. 11, 2024.
In total, the co-conspirators stole at least $28,983.00 from the Chinatown Walgreens at 7th and H Streets, NW. The robberies stopped Feb. 11, 2024, when Williams was shot in the chest by a Special Police Officer.
Each robbery followed the same modus operandi. A masked gunman entered the store in the evening as cash was transported, or had already been transported, to the Manager’s Office. The gunman either forced an employee to enter the code to the Manager’s Office or accessed the office themselves by entering the code. The gunman robbed whichever employees were present in the Manager’s Office and fled the store through the rear exit.
Michael Robinson and Teeter took turns pretending to be the “victim” manager on duty, knowing that the robberies would be captured on internal surveillance footage and later scrutinized by law enforcement.
Text messages show the co-conspirators worked to make the robberies look authentic. Gianni Robinson and Williams discussed that Teeter no longer play the role of “victim” unless Williams pretended to assault her. Williams brazenly claimed that he wanted to “go in violently now, I’m tired of this not hitting what we supposed to hit.” Gianni Robinson indicated that his “unc” (Michael Robinson) was prepared to be the victim and be “smack[ed] out” during the robbery.
Prior to some of the robberies, Michael Robinson provided Williams with insider knowledge, telling him the number of armed security guards that would be present at a given time, which employees had the code to the Manager’s Office, when cash would enter the Manager’s Office, and the best times to perform a robbery.
On Feb. 11, 2024, at approximately 6:28 p.m., an armed Special Police Officer (SPO) was escorting Michael Robinson to the Manager’s Office while carrying cash from the day. As Michael Robinson was unlocking the Manager’s Office, Williams came up and held a gun against the SPO and threatened to kill him. Michael Robinson, Williams, and the SPO entered the Manager’s Office and Williams took the SPO’s handgun. After putting the cash in his bag, Williams attempted to leave the Manager’s Office but a second armed SPO arrived and fired once at Williams, striking him in the chest. Williams was then taken to the hospital.
Williams previously was convicted in 2021 in D.C. Superior Court of carrying a pistol without a license following a car-to-car shootout in Northeast that left two men injured and one of them paralyzed. In that case, Williams was sentenced under the Youth Rehabilitation Act to one year of supervised probation.
This case was investigated by the FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force with assistance from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Martin with assistance from former Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Song and former Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Monica Svetoslavov.
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