Washington, D.C. – An 18-year-old District of Columbia man, Delando Partee, has been sentenced to serve a 15-year period of incarceration in connection with a string of armed robberies he committed in 2007, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor announced today.

Partee received his sentence on Friday, July 25, 2008, before Superior Court Judge Russell F. Canan. On April 1, 2008, Partee was found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to commit robbery, three counts of armed robbery, three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, one count of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, one count of receiving stolen property, one count of carrying a pistol without a license, one count of possession of an unregistered firearm, and one count of unlawful possession of ammunition.

According to the evidence presented at trial, on October 7, 2007, the defendant, who was 17 at the time and subsequently prosecuted as an adult, stole a 2001 Nissan Maxima from a car wash in Maryland. The defendant and three co-conspirators then drove that stolen car into the District of Columbia where they used the car to commit a string of armed robberies on October 8, 2007. The first two robberies occurred on H Street, SE, where the defendant and his co-conspirators robbed two District of Columbia residents of their money at gun point while their victims were walking next to the Adelaide Davis Elementary School. Immediately after that robbery, the defendant and his co-conspirators drove further down H Street, SE, where the defendant himself robbed a third victim of his money at gunpoint while that victim was walking home from grocery shopping.

Evidence at trial further showed that following the armed robberies, in the early morning hours of October 9, 2007, two police officers from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Sixth District – Officer Andre Parker and Officer Anthony Campanale – drove through the 4600 block of Benning Road when they heard the sounds of gunshots and observed Delando Partee and another individual run to an awaiting stolen Honda Accord. Following a high-speed pursuit, the defendant and his friends were stopped in the 4600 block of F Street, SE, where they bailed out and attempted to flee. Police apprehended Partee and one other individual. During a canvass of the area, police recovered a Bersa .380 semi-automatic pistol. Ballistics evidence at trial revealed that this same weapon was fired during the shooting in the 4600 block of Benning Road. The victims from all three H Street robberies also identified that pistol as having been brandished during the robberies.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Taylor commended the outstanding work of D.C. Metropolitan Police Department Detectives Kevin Tighe, Thomas Sepulveda, and Neill Jones, and Officers Andre Parker, Anthony Campanale, Kenneth Gibbs, Reginald Maxwell, Thomas Caddell, Dale Vernick, Seth Anderson, and William Dempster of the Sixth District; Sergeant Ronnie Arce and Officers Leother Strong, Michael Penkert, Robert Anderson, Charles Egan, and Michael DePrince with Crime Scene Search; Officer Michael Mulderig of the Firearms Examination Section; and Ms. Gloria Graves of the Fingerprint Examination Section.
In addition, he commended Assistant U.S. Attorney John W. Borchert of the Sixth District Felony Major Crimes Section who investigated and prosecuted this case.