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.