— courtesy U. S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney Eastern District of NC

RALEIGH – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina announced that today in federal court, United States District Judge Terrence W. Boyle, sentenced TYLER JONES, 21, of Henderson, NC to 84 months of  imprisonment followed by 3 years of supervised release. Also sentenced today was co-defendant DIJON DEVAR WILLIAMS, 26, of Henderson, NC to 200 months of imprisonment followed by 5 years of supervised release. Additionally, JONES agreed to pay $1,439.47 in restitution and WILLIAMS agreed to pay $12,096.95 in restitution.

JONES and WILLIAMS were named in a fifteen-count Indictment filed on August 3, 2016. JONES subsequently pled guilty to one-count of Hobbs Act Robbery and Aiding and Abetting and one-count of Brandishing a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence. WILLIAMS pled guilty to two-counts of Brandishing a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence.

From around October 2015, to December 14, 2015, WILLIAMS executed a series of robberies at various business establishments in the Eastern District of North Carolina, in Henderson, Kittrell, and Middleburg, North Carolina. JONES also was charged with one of the robberies.

On December 5, 2015, WILLIAMS and JONES robbed Citi Trends in Henderson. WILLIAMS entered the store and pointed a revolver at the security officer’s chest. JONES remained at the entrance to the store and served as a lookout. They fled the scene with approximately $1,439.00. On December 5, 2015, Jones was apprehended in the vicinity of the robbery and was positively identified by a witness.

On December 14, 2015, WILLIAMS robbed Cruizers Store Number 240 (Cruizers) in Henderson. Shortly after entering the store, WILLIAMS walked behind the cash register counter, pointed a handgun at the cashier, and demanded money. While WILLIAMS grabbed $80 from the cash register, the cashier turned and fell to the floor. WILLIAMS fled the scene in a car shortly after the robbery.

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.

The Henderson Police Department, the Vance County Sheriff’s Office, and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) conducted the criminal investigation of this case. Assistant United States Attorneys S. Katherine Burnette and Dennis M. Duffy handled the prosecution of this case for the government.

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