April 12, 2010

TOPEKA MAN WHO TRIED TO ROB FEDERAL AGENT SENTENCED TO 10+ YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON

TOPEKA, KAN. – A Topeka man who pleaded guilty to trying to rob a federal agent has been sentenced to prison, U.S. Attorney Lanny Welch said today.

Phillip Tyrone Williams, 35, Topeka, Kan., was sentenced to 130 months after pleading guilty to one count of distributing crack cocaine, one count of aggravated robbery of a federal agent, and one count of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. In his plea, Williams admitted that on March 26, 2009, he and co-defendant Antoine Cardin Williams went to a motel in the 1200 block of S.W.Wanamaker in Topeka where they planned to sell crack cocaine and a .38-caliber derringer. They did not know that the buyer was in fact an agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who was working undercover.

During the transaction, Antoine Cardin Williams drew a weapon and held the ATF agent at gunpoint while Phillip Tyrone Williams searched the agent and took the agent’s government-owned SIG 229 duty weapon. When federal agents entered the motel room to assist the agent who was held at gunpoint, Antoine Cardin Williams pointed his weapon at one of the ATF agents. The agent shot Antoine Cardin Williams.

Last month, Antoine Cardin Williams was sentenced to 204 months in federal prison.

Welch commended the Topeka Police Department, the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office, the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Hendershot for their work on the case.