Miami, Florida – A South Florida federal district judge has sentenced 34-year-old Ft. Pierce resident and prior convicted felon Terry Burney Delion to five years in federal prison for possessing a firearm during a robbery that he and others staged to try to game the United States immigration system.
On August 29, 2019, law enforcement responded to a 911 call regarding an alleged robbery that took place at a grocery store in Fort Pierce. The alleged victims told law enforcement they were just robbed at gunpoint while taking out the trash behind the grocery store and described the alleged robber as a tall male dressed in dark clothing wearing a ski mask and sweater.
Shortly after that, law enforcement recovered a sweatshirt, loaded Glock, Model 26, 9mm semi-automatic pistol with an extended magazine, and ski mask from a carport less than mile from the grocery store. A law enforcement K-9 tracked the scent from the sweatshirt recovered from the carport to the parking lot of a nearby dollar store, where Delion was arrested. DNA recovered from the sweatshirt and ski mask matched Delion’s profile.
Delion admitted to law enforcement that he possessed the Glock, Model 26, 9mm semi-automatic pistol on August 29, 2019. Delion explained that he was paid by the wife of one of the alleged victims to stage the robberies so that the alleged victims, neither of whom were United States citizens, could obtain status as crime victims and remain in the United States.
Delion has prior felony convictions out of the Southern District of Florida for bank robbery (2010) and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence (2010).
Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Christopher Robinson, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Miami Field Division, announced the sentenced imposed by U.S. District Judge Donald L. Graham.
ATF Miami (Port St. Lucie Office) investigated the case with assistance from Fort Pierce Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael D. Porter prosecuted it.
This case stems from Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that brings together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. In 2017, PSN was reinvigorated as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 20-cr-14028.
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