New Mexico residents Antoine Mitchell, Moses D. Dickens III,
and Christopher Dominguez, were all sentenced in a Cheyenne federal court
recently after pleading guilty to crimes related to a violent crime spree that
included armed pharmacy robberies in Wyoming and New Mexico.
On October 6, 2016, the three men, disguised in ski masks,
kidnapped a woman at gunpoint in Wheatland, Wyoming, and dropped her at a
remote location west of Wheatland before driving her Ford Edge and their own
car to the Medicap Pharmacy in Cheyenne, Wyoming. There, again disguised, they
fired shots and demanded painkillers, including OxyContin and Oxycodone. After
exchanging gunfire with the pharmacist, the robbers fled in the Ford Edge,
abandoned it shortly thereafter, and left Wyoming in their own car.
Despite a detailed and thorough investigation by the
Cheyenne Police Department, the crimes in Wyoming went unsolved until December
3, 2016, when Mitchell, Dickens, and Dominguez robbed another pharmacy at
gunpoint in Raton, New Mexico, fleeing with OxyContin, Morphine, Promethazine,
cough syrup, and Ketamine. After a high-speed chase with the Raton Police
Department, the three men were apprehended and charged in federal court in New
Mexico.
In a joint effort by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in
Wyoming, the Platte County Sheriff’s Office, the Wheatland Police Department,
the Cheyenne Police Department, the Wyoming State Crime Laboratory, and with
the courageous assistance of the victims in Wyoming, Mitchell, Dickens, and
Dominguez were linked to their crimes in Wheatland and Cheyenne. They were
charged in federal court in Wyoming.
Eventually, both the Wyoming and New Mexico cases were
consolidated before Federal Judge Nancy D. Freudenthal in Wyoming. Pursuant to
a plea agreement with the United States Attorney’s Offices in New Mexico and
Wyoming, Dickens, Dominguez, and Mitchell all entered pleas related to the
carjacking and pharmacy robberies. Mitchell and Dickens received sentences of
35 years in prison. Dominguez will serve 28 years.
"This case is an outstanding representation of how
close cooperation between federal and local law enforcement agencies across two
states can put violent criminals and drug dealers behind bars," said
Wyoming U.S. Attorney Mark Klaassen. "It is a perfect example of the kind
of case that our President, our Attorney General, and the U.S. Attorney’s
Offices in Wyoming and New Mexico are targeting to reduce violent crime and
address the opiate epidemic in our respective communities. Here, we combined
the resources of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies and
prosecutors’ offices across two states to find the most effective way to
investigate and prosecute these violent actors, and to bring justice to the
victims of violent crime, which is the mandate of the Department of Justice’s
Project Safe Neighborhood initiative. I also want to highlight in particular
the courage or the victims of these crimes in Wyoming. Without their
assistance, these criminals may never have been accountable for their violent
crimes here."
"Today’s sentencing of Antione Mitchell and the recent
sentencings of Moses Dickens III and Christopher Dominguez illustrate the FBI’s
commitment to work with its law enforcement partners to address violent crime
in our community," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Dean Phillips.
"This investigation was truly a collaborative multi-state effort between
local and federal law enforcement. The community is safer with these
individuals behind bars. And we are confident Mitchell, Dickens, and
Dominguez’s sentencings sends a message to those involved in acts of violence
that they will be aggressively investigated and prosecuted to the full extent
of the law."
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