URBANA, Ill. – Alfred E. Jerry, 30, of Charleston, lllinois, was sentenced today to fourteen years and three months’ imprisonment, to be followed by an aggregate five-year term of supervised release, for the armed robbery of the Team Wireless store in Charleston. Jerry was originally sentenced on February 11, 2020, but was resentenced after the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago vacated his initial twenty-two-year sentence based on a change in federal law.
Jerry pleaded guilty in September 2019 to all three counts as charged in the indictment: obstructing commerce by robbery, brandishing a firearm in furtherance of robbery, and possession of a firearm by a felon. The charges stemmed from Jerry’s May 2019, robbery of the Woodfall Drive Team Wireless store, which was recorded by the store’s security system.
The security recording, which was played at Jerry’s original sentencing, showed a masked man wielding a revolver enter the store and order its two employees into a back room. The gunman threatened to shoot the employees if they did not comply. After the employees filled a trash bin with merchandise, the gunman took cash and keys from one of the employees. After more than five minutes in the store, the gunman left through the back door with the stolen merchandise and keys.
Police officers with the Charleston Police Department and the Eastern Illinois University Police Department arrested Jerry minutes after the robbery as he fled on foot. Police recovered a loaded revolver, stolen merchandise, and a ski mask containing DNA evidence linking Jerry to the robbery nearby.
Jerry has remained in federal custody since his arrest. Jerry has prior convictions for robbery and attempted murder.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Charleston Police Department, the Eastern Illinois University Police Department, and the Coles County Sheriff’s Office, collaborated in the investigation. Supervisory Assistant United States Attorney Eugene L. Miller represented the government at the resentencing.
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