Serial Robber Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison for Four Armed Commercial Robberies

Armed Gunmen Committed Three Robberies in Less Than Two Hours

Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm sentenced Deniro Southern-Robinson, age 21, of Largo, Maryland, today to 10 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for committing a series of armed robberies in which he brandished a gun.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur; Special Agent in Charge Gordon B. Johnson of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Chief J. Thomas Manger of the Montgomery County Police Department; Frederick County Sheriff Charles A. “Chuck” Jenkins; and Chief Henry P. Stawinski III of the Prince George’s County Police Department.

According to his guilty plea, between December 29, 2016 and January 7, 2017, Southern-Robinson and his co-defendants, Joshua Isaiah Potter and Deandre Denzil Proctor, conspired to commit a series of robberies of businesses.  In each robbery, Southern-Robinson and Proctor entered the locations, brandished a gun, and robbed the employees of the proceeds of the business, while Potter served as a lookout during the robberies and drove the getaway vehicle.

Specifically, in less than two hours in the early morning of December 29, 2016, Southern-Robinson and his accomplices robbed three businesses in Myersville, Frederick, and Bethesda, Maryland.  In each robbery, Southern-Robinson brandished a silver revolver and Proctor brandished a BB gun.  Both men covered their faces with bandanas or masks.  In the first robbery, they confronted an employee and demanded to know where the safe was.  The victim informed them that there was no safe and began pushing one of the robbers before noticing that both appeared to be brandishing firearms.  Southern-Robinson and Proctor emptied the cash registers into their pockets, stealing approximately $517.  As they fled, they threatened to kill the employee if he/she called the police.  In the other two robberies, Southern-Robinson and Proctor confronted employees and demanded they open the cash registers, stealing $232 and $350, respectively.  Potter was the lookout and getaway driver for each robbery.

On January 7, 2017, Potter drove the robbers to a business in Myersville, Maryland.  Southern-Robinson and Proctor entered the business, again brandishing a silver revolver and BB gun, respectively, and wearing masks to cover their faces.  The robbers confronted two store employees, with Proctor pointing the BB gun at the chest of one of the victim store employees, and asked for the safe.  The victim led them to where the safe was located and Southern-Robinson removed cash from the safe and put it in a duffel bag.  Southern-Robinson and Proctor stole approximately $773.  Potter served as the getaway driver after the robbery was completed.

Several minutes later, law enforcement officers saw Potter’s vehicle traveling from the direction of the business and initiated a traffic stop.  Proctor, the front seat passenger, was wearing the same distinctive tiger-striped shoes he had worn in the December 29th robberies.  Law enforcement arrested the defendants and obtained a search warrant for the vehicle.  Law enforcement seized the silver revolver, a .22-caliber loaded with four rounds of ammunition, from the right rear passenger door, where Southern-Robinson had been seated.  From the front passenger floor, where Proctor was sitting, law enforcement recovered black clothing that matched the clothing worn during the robberies, a black BB gun, and the duffel bag that had been used in the robberies.  Law enforcement also recovered $789 from the pouch on the back of the front passenger seat, where Southern-Robinson has been seated, and three cell phones, among other items.  Additional search warrants were executed at the residences of Southern-Robinson and Proctor that recovered additional cash and other clothing worn during the December 29th robberies.

Deandre Denzil Proctor, age 22, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, and Joshua Isaiah Potter, age 22, of District Heights, Maryland, pleaded guilty to their roles in the robberies.  Judge Grimm has scheduled sentencing for Potter on May 3, 2019 at 2:30 p.m. and for Proctor on May 6, 2019 at 9:00 a.m.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

United States Attorney Robert K. Hur commended the FBI Cross Border Task Force, the Montgomery County Police Department, the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office, and the Prince George’s County Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Hur thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth G. Wright, who is prosecuting the case.