A Voorhees man was sentenced recently to 50 months in prison for his role in the robbery of $65,440 from a gas station owner outside a TD Bank in Deptford, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Dashawn Cheek, 22, previously pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting a Hobbs Act robbery. He entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Joseph Rodriguez, who also imposed the sentence in Camden federal court.
According to documents filed in this and related cases and statements made in court, prior to the robbery on June 11, 2010, Donnell Cheek told his brother Dashawn Cheek about a tip he had received from TD Bank teller Stephanie Jordan regarding a bank customer who made large cash deposits. The customer owned several gas stations.
Dashawn Cheek admitted that on the day of the robbery, he, his brother, and co-conspirator Jamaine Levi waited near the gas station owner’s house and then followed him to several gas stations and to the TD Bank in Deptford.
At the bank, Dashawn Cheek and his brother got out of the car, approached the gas station owner, and took his blue Sunoco money bag containing approximately $65,440 in proceeds of his gas stations’ sales. After stealing the money, the Cheeks ran back to where Levi was waiting in the car. They later split the cash.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Rodriguez sentenced Dashawn Cheek to serve three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay restitution in the amount of $72,684. He has been in federal custody since his bail was revoked in May for violating the conditions of his release.
Dashawn Cheek’s co-conspirators have also pleaded guilty to related offenses. Donnell Cheek is scheduled to be sentenced on July 21, 2011; Jordan on July 20, 2011; and Levi on July 27, 2011.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI’s South Jersey Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George C. Venizelos, in Philadelphia; investigators with the Camden County and Gloucester County Prosecutors’ Offices, under the direction of Prosecutors Warren W. Faulk and Sean F. Dalton, respectively; and officers with the Voorhees and Deptford Township Police Departments with the investigation of the case.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason M. Richardson of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.
