Brooklyn Man Convicted of Home Invasion Armed Robbery Conspiracy

A federal jury in Brooklyn returned a guilty verdict today against Devone Jefferys for Hobbs Act robbery conspiracy, attempted robbery of heroin and cash and unlawful use and possession of a firearm.  The verdict followed a six-day trial before United States District Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto.  When sentenced, Jefferys faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum of life imprisonment.

Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, announced the verdict.

“For years, the defendant was on the run and in hiding, trying to avoid paying the consequences for the violence and terror he inflicted.  But with today’s verdict, justice has caught up to him,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue.  Mr. Donoghue thanked the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, New York Field Division, for their outstanding work in the case.

On July 31, 2015, Jefferys and a co-conspirator, posing as NYPD police officers, entered an apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to steal heroin and cash from a drug dealer who lived there with his mother.  They pointed their guns at those present in the apartment – including a pregnant woman and the drug dealer’s sister – ordered them to lie on the floor and bound them with duct tape.  Jefferys then ransacked the apartment searching for drugs and cash, with his and co-conspirator’s guns fixed on the victims’ heads and the pregnant woman’s stomach.  When Jefferys learned that the drug dealer’s sister had thrown a bag of drugs out a window, he forcibly took her to an outside alleyway, where he assaulted her after he was unable to locate the heroin.  Jefferys was captured on multiple video cameras in the apartment building. 

At the trial, Jefferys’ former girlfriend testified that he told her that he was a fugitive from the police, described the robbery and lived in her car to avoid capture.

This case was brought as 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.  The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of its renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorneys’ Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally based strategies to reduce violent crime.

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s International Narcotics and Money Laundering Section.  Assistant United States Attorneys Nathan Reilly and Ryan Harris are in charge of the prosecution.

The Defendant:

DEVONE JEFFERYS (also known as “Moneybags”)
Age:  27
Brooklyn, New York

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 18-CR-359 (KAM)