Final Defendant in Robbery Crew Pleads Guilty to Robbing Two Convenience Stores with Firearms

Tampa, FL - Jermaine Dawes (33, Tampa) has pleaded guilty to two robberies, conspiracy to commit those robberies, and brandishing a firearm during both robberies. He faces up to 20 years in prison for each of the robbery offenses and a minimum sentence of 7 years, up to life imprisonment, consecutive to any other sentence imposed for the firearm offenses. His sentencing date has not yet been set. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.

Dawes’s three co-defendants, Ronald Brown, E’Barous Harris, and Tra-Vontae Watson, each previously pleaded guilty. Their sentencing hearings are pending.

According to court documents and proceedings, in July 2024, Dawes conspired with others to rob two convenience stores in Tampa. Two firearms were used in, and brandished, during both robberies. Law enforcement located the defendants a few days after the robberies at a hotel in Tampa. Surveillance footage from the hotel revealed Dawes getting in and out of the driver’s seat of the vehicle used in the robberies while one of his co-defendants entered the vehicle with a firearm. Search warrants for multiple hotel rooms associated with the defendants were executed and a rifle consistent with one of the firearms used during the robberies was located.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, and the Tampa Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Samantha Newman.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).