Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Marquis Moore, age 35, of Baltimore, to 12 years in federal prison, followed by 5 years of supervised release, for committing a series of armed commercial robberies and for brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Sobocinski of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Commissioner Michael Harrison of the Baltimore Police Department; Chief Melissa R. Hyatt of the Baltimore County Police Department; and Chief Amal E. Awad of the Anne Arundel County Police Department.
According to Moore’s guilty plea, from at least November 2018 to March 2019, Moore participated in at least 10 robberies, nine of them with co-defendants Milek Rankin, age 29, of Baltimore, and Dontrell Glover, age 30, of Baltimore, of commercial businesses, including fast-food restaurants, video game stores, cell phone stores, and discount stores in Baltimore, Baltimore County, and Anne Arundel County. During each robbery, Moore brandished a firearm, to use fear to obtain money and/or other items from the businesses.
For example, on January 4, 2019, Moore and Rankin robbed a cell phone store in Essex, Maryland. Moore carried a loaded handgun. When the store employee resisted giving the robbers money from the business, Moore took the magazine out of the handgun, showed it to the employee, and said, “You can see it’s loaded. We’re not playing games.” The handgun was loaded with hollow point bullets. During the robbery, Moore struck the employee with the handgun. Moore and Rankin fled using a get-away vehicle driven by Glover.
Moore admitted that he committed at least 10 additional robberies, each time brandishing a gun and often pointing the gun at employees.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (“PSN”), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. PSN, an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime, is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. 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.
United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended the FBI, the Baltimore Police Department, the Baltimore County Police Department, and the Anne Arundel County Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lindsey N. McCulley and John W. Sippel, who prosecuted the case.
For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/project-safe-neighborhoods-psnexile and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.
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