Teenage Defendant Sentenced to Five-Year Prison Term for Armed Robbery on Metrorail Train

            WASHINGTON – Daeyon Ross, 16, of Washington, D.C., has been sentenced to five years in prison for robbing two people at knife-point last summer on a Metrorail train, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, Ron Pavlik, Chief of the Metro Transit Police, and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Ross, who was charged as an adult because of the nature of the crime, pled guilty in August 2017, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to a charge of armed robbery. The plea called for an agreed-upon sentence of five to six years in prison. The Honorable Thomas J. Motley accepted the plea and sentenced Ross accordingly on Jan. 25, 2018. The judge sentenced Ross to a total of six years in prison, but suspended all but five years of that time. Following his prison term, Ross will be placed on five years of supervised release.

            In a separate case, Ross pled guilty on Jan. 25, 2018 to another robbery, this one of victims he followed off a Metrobus in Southeast Washington.

            The sentencing involved a robbery on June 21, 2017. According to the government’s evidence, at about 11:15 a.m., Ross and other individuals were on a Green line Metro train that was approaching the Georgia Avenue-Petworth station in Northwest Washington. Ross approached one victim, brandished a knife, and robbed him of his iPhone. The victim’s brother tried to help, and he was robbed of his iPhone, too. Metro Transit Police detectives reviewed surveillance footage and the investigation led to Ross’s arrest on June 29, 2017.

            The guilty plea involved a robbery on June 7, 2017. According to the government’s evidence, at about 3 p.m., Ross and three others followed three victims off a Metrobus in the area of 44^th and H Streets SE. Ross brandished a handgun and stated, “Be quiet and empty your pockets!” The victims turned over their iPhones to Ross’s accomplices.

            Ross pled guilty to a robbery charge for the June 7 offense. The plea, which is contingent upon the Court’s approval, calls for a two-year prison term. The Honorable Robert A. Salerno scheduled sentencing in that case for June 29, 2018. 

            In announcing the sentence and plea, U.S. Attorney Liu, Chief Pavlik, and Chief Newsham commended the work of those who investigated the cases from the Metro Transit Police and the Metropolitan Police Department. They also expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Kerkhoff and the Violent Repeat Offender Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Finally, they commended the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney Rizwan A. Qureshi, who prosecuted the matter.