FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
TUESDAY - March 22, 2011
LAST DEFENDANT SENTENCED IN MOE’S ROBBERY
WILMINGTON - United States Attorney George E.B. Holding announced that in federal court today Senior United States District Judge James C. Fox sentenced DWIGHT SHERROD TAYLOR, for his part in the robbery of Moe’s Southwest Grill in Cameron Village in Raleigh, North Carolina. TAYLOR, 23, received 197 months’ imprisonment followed by five years’ supervised release.
A Federal Grand Jury returned a Superseding Criminal Indictment on August 11, 2010. On September 8, 2010, TAYLOR pled guilty to conspiring to rob a business in interstate commerce, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1951 and aiding and abetting the use and carry of a firearm during a federal crime of violence, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(c).
According to the Superseding Indictment and statements made during court hearings, on February 11, 2010, police officers were dispatched to an armed robbery at Moe’s Southwest Grill. The restaurant manager had closed and exited the store with two deposit bags. A vehicle carrying TAYLOR, along with co-defendants Shaniqua Shonta Burrell, Tahji Antonio Eley and Michael Javon Spencer, pulled into the parking lot. One of the co-defendants jumped from the vehicle, pointed a revolver at the manager and said, “Give me the money. Give me the money.” A second co-defendant jumped from the vehicle demanding the manger’s phone and car keys. Both men jumped back into the vehicle and took off. The responding officers spotted the vehicle and tried to stop it. The driver attempted to elude police, but crashed the vehicle with all four occupants jumping out of and running from the vehicle. TAYLOR was captured and had one of the bank deposit bags in his possession. Officers located the revolver next to the passenger’s side in the vehicle. Eley, Spencer, and Burrell were also captured and arrested. Eley was found with the second deposit bag.
On January 5, 2011, Burrell was sentenced to 98 months’ imprisonment. The Court also imposed a fine of $6,400. Eley and Spencer were sentenced on January 19, 2011. Eley received 244 months’ imprisonment and Spencer received 121 months’ imprisonment.This case was part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods(PSN) initiative which encourages federal, state, and local agencies to cooperate in a unified “team effort” against gun crime, targeting repeat offenders who continually plague their communities.
Investigation of this case was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm, and Explosives and the Raleigh Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Jane Jackson represented the government.
News releases are available on the U. S. Attorney’s web page at www.usdoj.gov/usao/nce within 48 hours of release.
