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Press Release

Washington, DC Man Convicted Of The Armed Robbery Of An Armored Car Employee

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maryland

Greenbelt, Maryland – A federal jury convicted Steven Vondell Williams, age 47, of Washington, D.C., today on conspiracy, robbery and gun charges related to the robbery of an armored car employee.

The guilty verdict was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Assistant Director in Charge Valerie Parlave of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Washington Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Acting Special Agent in Charge William P. McMullan of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - Baltimore Field Division; Chief Mark A. Magaw of the Prince George’s County Police Department; and Chief Cathy L. Lanier of the Metropolitan Police Department.

According to evidence presented at Williams’ six day trial, on May 3, 2011, Williams and his co-conspirator, Alton May, both armed with handguns, robbed an armored car employee at a convenience store in Glenarden, Maryland. The employee was at the convenience store to refill the ATM machine located in the store. Williams and May robbed the employee at gun point, taking a money bag and the employee’s handgun. Williams and May then fled on foot to an apartment complex next to the store where they got into May’s car and proceeded to his residence. On the way, they took the money out of the bag and threw the bag in a dumpster. Once they arrived at May’s residence they located and destroyed a GPS tracking device which was in the money. Williams and May threw the cash, three handguns and two baseball caps used in the robbery onto the roof of the building, then jumped out of the window. The GPS device allowed law enforcement to track the money from the convenience store to the dumpster and to May’s residence, where they recovered the cash, guns and hats from the roof. One of the guns recovered was the one stolen from the armored car employee. Officers recovered pieces of the broken GPS tracker inside and just outside the window of May’s apartment. Williams and May were subsequently identified through DNA recovered from the two baseball caps.

Williams faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the robbery conspiracy and for the robbery; a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years in prison, consecutive to any other sentence, and up to life in prison for brandishing a firearm during the commission of the armed robbery; and 10 years in prison for being a felon in possession of the firearm. U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus has scheduled Williams’ sentencing for September 4, 2014 at 11:00 a.m.

Alton May, age 49, of Washington, D.C., initially fled to New York, but was arrested in Montgomery County on November 7, 2011, when he fled from officers who were attempting to perform a traffic stop on the car May was driving. He pleaded guilty to his role in the robbery and was sentenced on October 17, 2013, to 25 years in prison.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI Washington and Baltimore Field Offices, ATF, Prince George’s County Police Department and Metropolitan Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Deborah A. Johnson and Leah J. Bressack, who are prosecuting the case.

Updated January 26, 2015