NORFOLK, Va. - Laquan Draper, 21, and Angelo Draper, 20, both of Portsmouth, Va., have been indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with a series of convenience store and fast food restaurant robberies over an eight week period in the summer of 2011.

            Neil H. McBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and John Boles, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement.

            The Draper brothers were charged with conspiracy to commit robbery, 16 counts of interference with commerce by robbery, and three firearm charges.  Laquan Draper has also been charged with possession of a firearm by a felon.  If convicted, they face a maximum of 20 years in prison for each of the robbery and conspiracy charges, and a total of 60 mandatory years on the firearm charges.

            According to the indictment and court records, the Drapers started an eight-week robbery spree in July, 2011, spanning Norfolk to Roanoke, Va.  The brothers, concealing their identities with shirts tied around their faces, entered 7-11 convenience stores with either firearms or replica firearms, jumped over the counter and took money from store employees.  The men are also alleged to have robbed employees of two McDonald's, a Wendy's, an ABC Store, and a Fast Auto Loans location.  In addition, at Got It Video in Norfolk, the Drapers entered with a third person, shattering the locked front glass door by shooting out the bottom half.  They then held customers and employees at gun-point and took money from the store registers.

            The brothers were arrested in Chesapeake on August 25, 2011 after they crashed the stolen Saturn Vue they were driving into a police vehicle.  A .22 caliber hand-gun was found in the passenger floor board of the stolen vehicle when the men were removed. Additional evidence recovered from the car was linked forensically to several of the crime scenes.

            This case was investigated by the Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach Police Departments; the Appomattox County Sheriff’s Department; the Roanoke County Police and the Roanoke City Police.  Assistant United States Attorney Sherrie S. Capotosto and Special Assistant United States Attorney Amy E. Cross are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

            Criminal indictments are only charges and not evidence of guilt. Defendants are presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.

            A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.

 

Return to Top