Two Teenagers, Charged as Adults, Sentenced to Prison Terms For Armed Robbery in Northeast Washington

     WASHINGTON – Jabarr Emerson Jr. and Dalonte Stewart, both 16 years old and from Washington, D.C., have been sentenced to prison terms for robbing two people inside their home last September in Northeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Philips announced today.

     Emerson and Stewart were charged as adults given the serious nature of their crimes. Emerson pled guilty in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in January 2017, and Stewart in December 2016, to armed robbery for their roles in the crime. Emerson also pled guilty to robbery in a separate case.

     The Honorable Maribeth Raffinan sentenced both defendants to four years in prison for the armed robbery. She also sentenced Emerson to an additional 18 months in prison for the second robbery offense. Following their prison terms, both will be placed on five years of supervised release. Emerson was sentenced today and Stewart was sentenced March 9, 2017.

     According to the government’s evidence, on Sept. 22, 2016, at about 12:45 a.m., Emerson, Stewart, and an accomplice, all wearing masks, approached a woman in the 1900 block of Lincoln Road NE. One assailant grabbed the victim from behind and placed her in a chokehold while pointing a handgun to her head. The group demanded her money, and she replied that she did not have any. When asked where her money was located, she told them that it was inside her apartment, and the three then forced the victim into her home.

     Once inside the apartment, the assailants realized that a man was also present, and subsequently they held him at gunpoint and demanded his money, too. The victims told the assailants that they had a safe and where the key could be found. The assailants retrieved the key, located the safe, opened the safe, and took approximately $400.

     Emerson also pled guilty to a second robbery on Aug. 26, 2016, also in Northeast Washington. In this instance, at 2:50 a.m., the victim had just arrived at his home in the unit block of R Street NE. He was walking into his basement apartment when Emerson and a second assailant approached from behind. The victim heard a noise, turned around, and saw Emerson and his cohort, wearing hooded sweatshirts tied around their faces, with long guns that appeared to be sawed-off shotguns. One of the assailants demanded that the victim open the door, get on his knees, and crawl through the door while the gun was placed to the back of his head. Once inside the residence, the two intruders demanded the man’s money and other property. The man gave them $40, an iPhone and several credit cards. The two also took the man’s two laptops, and one also went through the man’s pockets. They then asked if anyone else was home. When they learned that a roommate was in a bedroom, one of the assailants went inside. The roommate woke up when the bedroom lights were turned on, and he saw one of the intruders pointing a sawed-off shotgun at his head. The intruder went through the roommate’s suitcase and pants, walked out of room with two credit cards, and he and his accomplice left the residence.

     Emerson and Stewart were arrested in November 2016.

     In announcing the sentences, U.S. Attorney Phillips commended the work of those who investigated the cases from the Metropolitan Police Department. He also expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the Latent Fingerprint Unit of the District of Columbia Department of Forensic Sciences. Finally, he acknowledged the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Richard Barker and Vivien Cockburn, who prosecuted the matter.