CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Today, U.S. District Kenneth D. Bell ordered Ishmeel Qyshawn Chapman, 20, of Charlotte, to serve 16 years in prison and three years of supervised release, on charges stemming from the April 2020 armed robbery of a Dollar General store, announced William T. Stetzer, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
Robert R. Wells, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division, and Chief Johnny Jennings of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) join Acting U.S. Attorney Stetzer in making today’s announcement.
According to court documents and today’s sentencing hearing, on April 23, 2020, Chapman and another individual entered the Dollar General store located at 8825 WT Harris Boulevard in Charlotte. Upon entering, Chapman’s accomplice pointed a firearm at customers and a store employee, while Chapman grabbed a customer by the arms and forced him to the cash register counter. Court records show that the store employee complied with the robbers’ demands and opened the store’s first cash register, and Chapman’s accomplice began taking money out of it. While the employee was attempting to open the second cash register, Chapman struck the employee on the right side of her head, knocking her to the ground. Court records indicate that Chapman then took the firearm from his accomplice and pointed it at several customers, which included a one-year old child, and ordered the customers to hand over their purses and wallets.
According to court records, Chapman and his accomplice stole $510 from the cash register and fled the scene. As he was leaving the store, Chapman pointed a firearm at a customer and then struck the customer on the shoulder with the gun. CMPD officers alerted to the robbery located Chapman’s getaway vehicle and Chapman was arrested shortly thereafter. At the time of Chapman’s arrest, law enforcement also located the firearm used during the store robbery.
On December 1, 2020, Chapman pleaded guilty to robbery of a business affecting interstate commerce, or “Hobbs Act” robbery, and possession and brandishing a firearm during, in relation to, and in furtherance of a crime of violence.
Chapman is currently in federal custody in the Western District of North Carolina and will be transferred into the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.
In making today’s announcement, Acting U.S. Attorney Stetzer thanked the FBI and CMPD for their investigation of this case.
The prosecution for the government was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Hess of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte.
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