United States Attorney Richard W. Moore of the Southern
District of Alabama announces today that United States District Judge Terry F.
Moorer sentenced defendant Deonta Terrell Felts, 26, to imprisonment for 147
months for interference with commerce by robbery and for brandishing a firearm
during and in relation to a crime of violence. As part of the sentence, the
judge ordered that Felts undergo three years of supervised release after
finishing his term of imprisonment, pay a $200 mandatory special assessment;
receive substance abuse testing and mental health treatment as directed by the
U.S. Probation Office; face credit restrictions; and pay restitution totaling
$7,159.24. The judge also recommended to the Bureau of Prisons that the
defendant receive substance abuse treatment while incarcerated.
On June 27, 2019, a federal grand jury for the Southern
District of Alabama charged Felts with four counts of interference with
commerce by robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1951(a) and four counts of
brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence in
violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(ii). On August 15, 2019, Felts appeared
before District Judge Moorer and pleaded guilty to a robbery charge and to a
brandishing charge.
Felts admitted to the following facts at his plea hearing.
In September and October 2017, in the Southern District of Alabama and
elsewhere, Felts committed Hobbs Act robberies of commercial businesses. Each
robbery was a crime of violence per 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(3) that obstructed,
delayed, and affected interstate commerce. During each robbery, Felts
brandished a firearm and knowingly took property against a victim’s will by
using actual or threatened force, or violence, and caused the victim to fear
harm, either immediately or in the future.
At 12:42am on September 10, 2017, Felts entered Baymont Inn
& Suites, 5634 Tillmans Corner Pkwy, Mobile, Alabama 36619 with a handgun.
He approached J.N. and demanded money from the register. Felts pointed the gun
at J.N., who froze for a moment. Felts walked behind the counter with J.N. and
told J.N. to open the register. Felts went into the drawer and took the cash
along with the change. J.N. gave Felts $301.29 from the drawer. Felts took the
money and fled the business on foot.
At 2:45am on September 11, 2017, Felts entered CEFCO, 29626
State Hwy 181, Daphne, Alabama 36526 wearing dark blue jeans with a black shirt
wrapped around his head. Felts showed store clerk C.G. a black semi-automatic
pistol, which he was carrying in his right hand. Felts had the pistol close to
his right hip and pointed it in the clerk’s direction. Felts laughed as C.G.
was standing in shock. Felts told C.G. to open the register, which C.G. did.
Felts then told the clerk to open the safe. The clerk said, “I can't open the
safe.” Felts told C.G. to turn the key on the safe, which the clerk did,
showing Felts that the key would not open the safe. Felts then told the clerk
to open the other register. The clerk handed Felts all of the five and twenty-dollar
bills out of both registers. Felts then demanded all the quarters, which C.G.
gave. Felts placed all of the money in his pockets and then told C.G. to “give
me all the Newport green 100’s and Kool greens.” C.G. grabbed four cartons of
each, placed them in a plastic bag, and handed the bag to Felts, who told C.G.
that the clerk “was attractive and don't call the cops.” Felts left the store,
stealing $490 from CEFCO: $400 worth of
cigarettes and $90 in U.S. currency.
At 3:14am on September 11, 2017, Felts entered Waffle House,
13101 E. Flowerwood Rd, Loxley, Alabama 36551 wearing blue jeans and a black
long-sleeved shirt over his head and shoulders. Felts brandished a mid-sized
black semi-automatic handgun and demanded cash from the register. Felts ordered
the employees, S.H. and E.T., to hand him the cash. He did not touch the
register or counter. After stealing $300 in cash from the register, Felts
ordered the employees to open the safe. S.H. told Felts that S.H. was unable to
access the safe. Felts then left Waffle House and returned to a vehicle parked
behind the business. Felts fled northbound on Highway 59.
At 10:40pm on September 12, 2017, Felts entered Domino’s
Pizza, 6305 Cottage Hill Rd, Mobile, Alabama 36609 wearing a black hoody, dark
colored jeans, and a black shirt draped over his head. Felts brandished a black
semiautomatic pistol towards R.C., who was standing at the counter. Felts
demanded all the money from the register but determined that there was not
enough money in the register, so he demanded that the safe be opened. Another
victim, D.W., then opened the exterior portion of the safe. Felts removed money
from the safe and the register. Felts stole $388.42 from the business and fled
the scene.
At 12:04am on September 13, 2017, Felts entered Circle K,
9875 Airport Blvd., Mobile, Alabama 36608 with a black t-shirt covering up his
head. He pointed a black semi-automatic pistol at the clerk, C.C., and demanded
property. C.C. retrieved Newport cigarettes and cigarillos from the shelves.
Felts obtained the items as well as $80 from the safe and $114 from the
register, and fled the store. In total, Felts stole $1,634 from Circle K: $194
in cash, $640 worth of cigarettes, and $800 worth of cigarillos.
At 9pm on September 13, 2017, Felts entered Subway, 951
Schillinger Rd N E, Mobile, Alabama 36608 armed with a black handgun and
gloves. He demanded that C.H. open the cash register and give him money. Felts
threatened to shoot C.H. in the foot. Felts forced C.H. at gunpoint to open the
safe to get money out of it. Felts stole $200 in U.S. currency from the safe
and $50 in U.S. currency from the cash register. Felts fled the scene on foot.
C.H. used her cell phone to call 911.
At 9:44pm on September 13, 2017, Felts entered Dollar
General, 2381 Dawes Rd, Mobile, Alabama 36695 wearing a black sweatshirt and
gloves and armed with a gun. Felts walked up to the register area where one
employee, S.M., was located behind the counter. Felts called another employee,
J.W., to come to him. Felts brandished a small black semi-automatic handgun and
pointed it at J.W.’s chest. Felts demanded money from S.M. from the register
and told S.M. to open the safe. Felts took the money and placed it in his
pocket. Felts then escorted the victims at gunpoint back to the manager’s
office, made J.W. give him his phone, and kept the victims in the office before
leaving. Felts exited the store on foot heading north through the parking lot.
Officers later tracked the stolen cell phone back to the inside of the store.
In total, Felts stole $252 in cash from Dollar General.
At 7:22pm on October 21, 2017, Felts entered Hibbett Sports,
3 W. Nine Mile Rd., Pensacola, Florida 32534. He wore blue gloves and a blue
bandana that fell down several times during the robbery. Felts pointed a Glock
handgun at two store clerks, D.S. and S.R., told them he was robbing them, and
demanded that they go to the back room where the safe was. Hibbett Sports had
no safe, which S.R. tried to explain. Felts got angry, pointed the gun at the
clerks’ heads, and said that he was going to kill them if they did not give him
the money. Felts pulled out a white zip tie from his pocket and ordered S.R. to
tie D.S.’s hands behind his back. S.R. tried to tie D.S.’s hands but left the
tie loose. Felts then ordered S.R. to get him two pairs of shoes from the stock
room. S.R. did so. Felts took the shoes and ordered S.R. to give him S.R.’s
iPhone. Felts reached into D.S.’s front pocket and stole his cash.
Felts then ordered the clerks to go to the registers. Felts
followed the clerks with the gun pointed at their heads and ordered D.S. to sit
down. Felts demanded that S.R. grab a new backpack from the wall in the store,
open the registers, and put money in it. S.R. opened the registers and began
putting money in the backpack. Felts set his firearm on the floor next to D.S.
When Felts started grabbing cash from the register and placing it in the
backpack, D.S. freed his hands, grabbed the firearm, and started shooting at
Felts. D.S. shot Felts twice as he fled out of the front door. Felts dropped
the backpack with all of the cash in the store as he was running and lost one
of his stolen shoes just outside the entrance. (Law enforcement officials later
recovered $1,505 in the backpack.)
D.S. pursued Felts eastbound through the parking lot of the
business, then southbound down Palafox St. D.S. chased Felts one block into the
parking lot of Salute Gymnastics, where D.S. shot three more rounds at Felts.
Three empty shell casings were found in front of Salute Gymnastics. Two empty
casings were found inside of Hibbett Sports alongside the spent rounds that
likely hit Felts. Law enforcement officials also found fresh blood drops
leading out of the front of Hibbett Sports, on the sidewalk, and in the parking
lot of Salute Gymnastics. According to a FBI laboratory report, DNA from floor
swabs recovered from the robbery matched Felts’s DNA with very strong
statistical support. In total, Felts owes $330 to Hibbett Sports for the
estimated value of two pairs of Air Jordan tennis shoes; $51 to D.S. for the
cash Felts stole from D.S.’s right front pocket; and restitution to S.R. for
the value of the iPhone 7 that Felts stole from S.R. during the robbery. S.R.
was injured during the robbery and incurred $3,162.53 worth of medical costs.
Later on October 21, 2017, Felts checked himself into Thomas
Hospital in Fairhope, Alabama for gunshot injuries. He had been shot several
times and was later transferred to USA Medical Center in Mobile, Alabama for
treatment.
At October 24, 2017, law enforcement officials interviewed
Felts. After being Mirandized, Felts admitted to being responsible for robbing
the CEFCO store in Daphne and the Waffle House in Loxley in September 2017.
Felts said he had “f***ed up,” had used a “smoker car” for transportation
during his robberies, and had traded drugs for use of the car. In a separate
post-Miranda interview on October 24 with police officers, Felts made
incriminating statements regarding robberies in Mobile County.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Mobile Police
Department, the Daphne Police Department, the Loxley Police Department, and the
Escambia County Sheriff’s Office in Escambia County, Florida investigated the
case. Assistant United States Attorney Sinan Kalayoglu prosecuted the case.
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