A Los Angeles man who served as a lookout during an armed robbery of a cash truck was sentenced Friday to nearly 14 years in prison.
James Russell Davis, a member of a law enforcement group known as the Chesapeake Bandits, pleaded guilty in February to one count of robbery interfering with commerce and one count of discharging a firearm in furtherance of violence Criminal charges.
In this 2022 robbery, an accomplice fired a pistol and the gang received more than $160,000 in cash. Davis was captured by the FBI and has been in federal custody since March 2023.
U.S. District Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha ordered Davis, 35, to pay $166,640 in restitution.
“Tragedy happens when people use guns to commit crimes,” the U.S. attorney said. Martin Estrada said in a statement. “That’s why it’s so important that we pursue federal prosecutions of perpetrators of violent gun crimes.”
In a sentencing memorandum, Davis’ attorney Jay Lichtman asked the judge to consider his client’s “tragic personal history,” including physical and emotional injuries suffered as a child.
Leachman also pointed out that when Davis was about 25 years old, he was shot in the chest by a stray bullet while watching a youth basketball game. Leachman wrote that the bullet remained lodged in the aortic arch of the heart, “causing Mr. Davis to experience daily physical pain and emotional stress.”
“Mr. Davis deeply regrets his participation in the crimes charged in this case,” Leachman wrote. “He humbly asks the court to consider his personal history and characteristics in determining the appropriate sentence.”
Leachman said by phone that the judge took mitigating factors into consideration when sentencing him.
“While we would have preferred a lighter sentence, it was still below the guidelines,” he said.
Authorities believe the group is behind a series of robberies targeting armored vehicles in the Los Angeles area. Investigators say they were dubbed the “Chesapeake Bandits” because they orchestrated the robbery of a home on Chesapeake Avenue in Los Angeles’ West Adams neighborhood.
According to law enforcement, members would knock security guards to the ground at gunpoint, tie them up with zip ties, then grab money bags and run away.
Davis admitted in his plea agreement that in 2022, he and a co-conspirator filed charges against a credit union in Hawthorne where they observed a Sectran truck driver servicing an ATM machine. He admitted that on February 14 of that year, he and his co-conspirators robbed a Sectran Security Services armored truck by ambushing the driver.
Davis’ co-conspirators were armed with a black semi-automatic handgun and an AR-style rifle, which they pointed at the driver, identified in the agreement as JG
Davis admitted that he served as a lookout in the neighborhood and conducted counter-surveillance.
According to the plea agreement, the gang put a gun to JG’s head, knocked him to the ground, and then stole the bag containing approximately $166,640 in cash.
“Imagine being pulled to the ground while someone puts a gun to your head,” Christy Hawkins, acting assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said in a statement. “Davis and his associates violently ambushed a man doing his job so they could steal someone else’s money.”
The main defendant in the case, Deneyvous Jayan Hobson, 38, has pleaded not guilty. His trial is scheduled for September 3.
Hobson was charged with one count of Hobbs Act conspiracy, one count of Hobbs Act robbery, one count of use of a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime and one count of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon.
The agency is looking for more suspects it believes are connected to the series of armed robberies, according to FBI spokesperson Laura Emeler.
