Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge George J. Hazel sentenced Anthony Erik Hebron, a/k/a “Pain”, age 29, of Washington, D.C., to 14 years in federal prison, followed by 5 years of supervised release, for conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge Wayne Jacobs of the Federal Bureau of Investigation – Washington Field Office Criminal Division; and Acting Special Agent in Charge Robert Turner of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office.
According to his guilty plea, in February 2021, Hebron, and co-defendants Darius Young, a/k/a “Mup”, age 30, Christopher Young, age 27, Lamar Perkins, age 28, and Tray Sherman, age 27, all of D.C., worked together to kidnap a victim from a Maryland casino and hotel.
Hebron and Sherman met Victim A at the casino and hotel, where they made the false promise that they would get women for Victim A if Victim A accompanied them to Southeast Washington, D.C. At approximately 7:30 a.m., Victim A agreed to travel to Southeast Washington, D.C. in Sherman’s car with Hebron.
At 8:13 a.m., Young called Mup to report that Hebron and Sherman had “snatched” Victim A. Soon after Sherman, Hebron, and Victim A arrived in Southeast D.C., Mup and Young entered Sherman’s vehicle with Victim A inside. Hebron then pointed a gun at Victim A while his co-conspirators took Victim A’s personal items including Victim A’s wallet, cell phone, hotel room key, and a watch valued at $500.
Hebron, Mup, Young, and Sherman then demanded the code to Victim A’s hotel safe. When Victim A refused, Hebron struck Victim A in the forehead with the gun. In response, Victim A told the co-conspirators the code to the hotel safe. Victim A was then forced out of the car by Hebron. Soon after, Mup and Young exited the vehicle with Victim A and forced the victim into a boiler room within a D.C. apartment building while Hebron and Sherman drove back to the hotel and casino to burglarize Victim A’s hotel room.
Inside the boiler room, Mup and Young repeatedly assaulted Victim A, threatened his life, demanded Victim A’s PIN number to his ATM card, and demanded information about the items located in his hotel room.
Simultaneously, Hebron and Sherman accessed Victim A’s hotel room, where they stole Victim A’s property, including a gaming system, $1,500 in casino chips, and approximately $6,000 in cash.
After Victim A was released by the conspiracy members, law enforcement saw Victim A near the apartment building. Victim A sustained several injuries, including a bloody wound on his forehead, a broken nose, and cuts on his mouth and eye.
Co-defendants Perkins, Young, Sherman, and Mup pleaded guilty to federal charges relating to the kidnapping earlier this year. Mup was sentenced to 126 months in federal prison. Young was sentenced to 126 months in federal prison. Perkins was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison. Sherman is scheduled to be sentenced in October 2022 to at least 96 months.
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.
This case is an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended the FBI Washington, and the FBI Baltimore Field Offices for their work in the investigation. Mr. Barron also praised the Prince George’s County Police Department for their assistance in the investigation. Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey J. Izant and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared C. Engelking, 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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