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Officials charge 3 more in Mich. robberies
A trio of men charged with storming into two independent jewelers in Michigan this spring and ordering employees and customers to the floor at gunpoint could face life in prison, authorities announced this week.
Detroit--A trio of men charged with storming into two independent jewelers in Michigan this spring and ordering employees and customers to the floor at gunpoint could face life in prison, authorities announced this week.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan, 45-year-old David Briley, 35-year-old Shaheed Calhoun and 40-year-old Orlando Johnson face a total of four felony charges each related to armed robbery.
A fourth man authorities allege was involved in the crimes, 42-year-old Nathaniel Pembrook, was charged with the same crimes in September. He is awaiting trial in Michigan while the other three were arrested in Pennsylvania and are awaiting removal to Detroit for arraignment.
If convicted on all charges, they face up to life in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
According to the indictment, the four men were all members of the same Philadelphia-based armed robbery crew who entered two stores--first, Paul Medawar Fine Jewelry in Grand Rapids, Mich. and then the Tapper’s Diamonds and Fine Jewelry store in West Bloomfield--on April 22 with their faces entirely or partially covered.
In both stores, they brandished a firearm and ordered all employees and customers to get down on the floor, the indictment states.
During the robbery at Medawar, one of the store owners shot Pembrook in the arm. DNA testing on blood recovered from the scene later was used to identify Pembrook, who has a criminal record, as one of the robbers.
The crew did not get away with anything from Medawar but stole $1.4 million in Rolex watches from Tapper’s, authorities allege.
All four men face charges of interference with commerce by robbery, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
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