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Press Release

District Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison For Pair of Armed Robberies in Northeast Washington

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia
Crimes Took Place Within a 10-Minute Period

            WASHINGTON – Jamah Harris, 25, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to a 10-year prison term on charges involving a pair of armed robberies that he committed the same night in Northeast Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips.

            Harris was found guilty in August 2016 by a jury in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia of two counts of armed robbery and two counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. He was sentenced by the Honorable Zoe Bush. After his prison term, he will be placed on five years of supervised release.

            According to the government’s evidence, the robberies took place on Aug. 25, 2014. In the first incident, at approximately 8:10 p.m., the victim, a retired electrician who has lived his entire life in Washington D.C., was robbed at gunpoint outside his home on Bladensburg Road NE. Harris and an accomplice approached the man and demanded he empty his pockets.  Scared for his life, he gave up his wallet and cash.

            The second robbery took place less than 10 minutes later. This victim, a mechanic who runs a car repair shop, was robbed at gunpoint outside his business on Evarts Road NE.  The victim reported that a 1997/1998 Mercedes Benz E32 had pulled up just past his shop.  Harris and his accomplice got out of the Mercedes, pointed what appeared to be a shotgun and a small handgun at the victim’s face, and demanded his money.  The victim gave Harris his money.

            After Harris and his accomplice returned to their Mercedes, one of them dropped a wallet just before driving away.  That wallet was later identified as the first victim’s wallet. Additionally, the entire second incident was captured on surveillance video, and evidence showed that the defendant’s 1997 Mercedes E32 was in the area of the robberies.

            After the defendant was identified as the perpetrator, Metropolitan Police Department (MOD) detectives located Harris on Sept. 16, 2014, and attempted to stop him. Harris fled in his Mercedes and officers chased him to the Bladensburg, Md., Waterfront, where Prince George’s County, Md, police officers apprehended him after he jumped into the Anacostia River. A weapon similar to the description provided by the two victims was recovered from Harris’s house during the execution of a search warrant. Harris’s accomplice has not been apprehended.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Phillips praised the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department and the Prince George’s County Police Department. He also commended the work of those who handled the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer Kerkhoff, Kimberley Nielsen, Jeffrey Nestler, and Stephen Rickard; Elizabeth Trosman, Chief of the Appellate Division; Paralegal Specialists Zoe Antwi and Tiffany Fogle, and Litigation Technology Specialist Kimberly Smith.  Finally, he commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Richard Barker and J. Matt Williams, who prosecuted the case, and Nebiyu Feleke, who indicted the case.

Updated November 28, 2016

Topic
Firearms Offenses
Press Release Number: 16-230