Five sentenced to prison in cell phone store robbery

Five people have now been sentenced to prison terms in connection with an armed robbery at a Kansas City, Kansas, cell phone store in which victims were bound.


• Mario Lambert, 39, of Rockford, Illinois, was sentenced to 61 months;
• Sir Love, 36, of Knoxville, Tennessee, was sentenced to 35 months;
• Domonique Walker, 30, of Rockford, Illinois, was sentenced to 145 months;
• Sharod Pitts, 40, of Chicago, Illinois, was sentenced to 100 months;
• and Terry Curtis, 38, of Rockford, Illinois, received a sentence of 72 months.


According to court documents, in September 2016, Lambert, Love, Walker, and Pitts entered a Verizon store on Village West Parkway. They pulled out handguns, and announced it was a robbery. The men locked the doors and forced the employees and customers to the back of the store at gunpoint. The assailants made the victims lie face down on the floor and bound their hands behind their back with zip ties. Then they untied one employee, put a gun to his face and demanded he open the store safe.

Lambert, Love, Walker, and Pitts stole cash and merchandise before fleeing the scene with Curtis who was waiting outside as the getaway driver, according to prosecutors.


Walker, Curtis, Lambert, and Love each pleaded guilty to one count of robbery. Pitts pleaded guilty to one count of robbery and one count of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. Lambert, Love, and Walker were indicted and sentenced in Tennessee and Illinois on related charges.

The Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Faiza Alhambra prosecuted the case.

Kansas man who posed as pathologist and duped hundreds will plead guilty in federal court

by Dan Margolies, KCUR and Kansas News Service

At least 375 clients paid Shawn Parcells more than $1.1 million in fees between May 2016 and May 2019, according to the federal indictment.

A Kansas resident who duped hundreds of people into paying him for autopsies that were never performed or completed is set to plead guilty to federal fraud charges.

Shawn Lynn Parcells, who held himself out as a pathologist although he has no medical degree, filed a “notice of intent to change plea” in federal court in Topeka on Tuesday. A hearing on the change of plea is scheduled for March 3.

Parcells could not be reached for comment. His lawyers did not return calls seeking comment.

A federal grand jury indicted Parcells in November 2020 on 10 counts of wire fraud. Through his business, National Autopsy Services in Topeka, Parcells charged clients $3,000 up front for pathology reports to determine the cause of death of clients’ next of kin, according to the indictment.

Parcells allegedly convinced prospective clients through his website that National Autopsy Services had office locations throughout the United States and some international locations, “giving the impression that NAS was a large business operation when in fact the defendant operated only one morgue facility and a ‘Corporate Office’ in Topeka,” the indictment stated.

At least 375 clients paid him more than $1.1 million in fees between May 2016 and May 2019, according to the indictment.

Parcells faces up to 20 years in prison and fines of $250,000 on each wire fraud count. The government is also seeking the forfeiture of the fees he was paid.

His guilty plea in federal court would follow his conviction three months ago by a Wabaunsee County jury on three counts of felony theft and three misdemeanor counts of criminal desecration. He’s scheduled to be sentenced in Wabaunsee County on Feb. 28.

Parcells, 42, worked as a pathologist’s assistant in the Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office between 1996 and 2003. In 2014 he appeared numerous times on cable news shows as a supposed expert in the investigation into the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

In addition to the criminal cases against him, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has filed a civil suit alleging Parcels had a contract in Wabaunsee County to conduct coroner-ordered autopsies but failed to complete them in accordance with Kansas law. Schmidt alleged that Parcells duped at least 82 consumers.

Parcells, who has lived in Leawood, Overland Park and Topeka, has been free on bond since his federal indictment.

In 2019, he was charged in Johnson County District Court with driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident. He pleaded no contest to the first count without admitting guilt, saying he was under the influence of medication he was taking for depression.

He was sentenced to 12 months’ probation, but his probation was revoked in February 2021 for failing to obtain a substance abuse evaluation and failing to pay various court-ordered costs.

Johnson County court records indicate that at the time he was cited, Parcells was driving a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee with the license plate “AUTOPSY.”

The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio focused on health, the social determinants of health and their connection to public policy.
Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished by news media at no cost with proper attribution and a link to ksnewsservice.org.
See more at https://www.kcur.org/news/2022-02-02/kansas-man-who-posed-as-pathologist-and-duped-hundreds-will-plead-guilty-in-federal-court
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Kansas City, Missouri, woman sentenced for illegal firearm

Authorities find stolen items from KCK and KCMO police

A Kansas City, Missouri, woman who was arrested with 19 firearms and quantities of illegal drugs in her home was sentenced in federal court Friday for illegally possessing a firearm.

Robin A. Graham, 38, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Greg Kays in Missouri to nine years in federal prison without parole.

On June 22, 2021, Graham pleaded guilty to one count of being a felon and unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm.

Investigators were conducting surveillance on co-defendant Dylan Lee Larson, 29, of Overland Park, Kansas, who engaged in a series of controlled drug transactions with a confidential source in October 2020, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in the Western District of Missouri.

Officers followed Larson to Graham’s residence, which had at least two visible surveillance cameras mounted on the residence and pointed towards the front or street area, with what appeared to be a third surveillance camera mounted on the residence pointed directly at the front door, according to court documents. Officers executed a search warrant at the residence on Nov. 5, 2020. Graham and co-defendant Rusty W. Snow, 28, who shared the residence with Snow, were at home during the search and were arrested.

Officers noticed a Coach purse on the couch near where Graham had been sitting. Graham’s wallet was sitting on top of the purse and a Taurus 9mm semi-automatic handgun was visible in the open purse.

Officers found a loaded Glock .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol on the couch, along with a lunchbox that contained approximately 572 grams of crystal methamphetamine, according to court documents. Officers also found approximately 400.8 grams of marijuana in a shoebox on the floor, and multiple items of drug paraphernalia nearby.

Officers found a total of 19 firearms and numerous rounds of ammunition littered throughout the residence. Six of those firearms – a shotgun, a rifle, and four semi-automatic pistols – had been reported stolen.

Additionally, as they continued the search, officers found another approximately 527.44 grams of marijuana, another approximately 33.39 grams of crystal methamphetamine, approximately 33.39 grams of psychedelic mushrooms, approximately 48.9 grams of THC concentrate-THC wax, and 38 full and 11 half pills of various controlled pharmaceuticals, according to authorities.

Officers also found four stolen motorcycles on the property, two police tasers, police identification and other police items stolen from Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas, officers.

Graham, who told investigators she was pregnant with Snow’s child, admitted she was aware of the drug distribution occurring in her residence. She also admitted she was aware of the numerous firearms in her residence.

Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony, or is a user of controlled substances, to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Graham has four prior felony convictions for burglary, as well as prior felony convictions for tampering, theft-stealing, possession of methamphetamine, attempted theft. Graham was on state parole at the time of her arrest in this case.

Snow pleaded guilty on Jan. 6, 2022, to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and one count of possessing firearms in furtherance of drug-trafficking crimes and awaits sentencing.

Larson pleaded guilty on April 30, 2021, to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and awaits sentencing.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Trey Alford. It was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration.