Syracuse Man Pleads Guilty to Two Armed Robberies

DOJ Press

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Akiem Howard, age 22, of Syracuse, pled guilty yesterday to robbing two Syracuse convenience stores and brandishing and discharging handguns in furtherance of both robberies, announced United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman, John B. DeVito. Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Division of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), Chief Kenton Buckner, City of Syracuse Police Department, and William Fitzpatrick, Onondaga County District Attorney.

As part of his guilty plea yesterday, Howard admitted that on December 13, 2020, and again on December 21, 2020, he robbed two convenience stores in Syracuse, NY.  During both robberies, Howard pointed handguns at store clerks. During the second robbery, Howard was accompanied by another alleged robber carrying a rifle. While fleeing the store, Howard fired several rounds from his handgun at the store clerk.  One of the bullets struck the other alleged robber in the leg. The other alleged robber’s case is pending, and she is presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty. As part of his guilty plea yesterday, Howard also admitted to committing three other armed robberies in Syracuse on December 19, 2020.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 6, 2022, before the Hon. Thomas J. McAvoy in Binghamton, New York, at which time Howard faces a minimum term of imprisonment of 17 years, a maximum term of life, a fine of up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of up to 5 years.  A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other factors.                          

This case was investigated by the Syracuse Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division (CID), the SPD Intelligence Section (Intel), the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office, and the United States Marshals Fugitive Task Force, and is being prosecuted as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Sutcliffe.


Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.


You appear to be using an ad blocker

Shore News Network is a free website that does not use paywalls or charge for access to original, breaking news content. In order to provide this free service, we rely on advertisements. Please support our journalism by disabling your ad blocker for this website.