Baltimore Felon Exiled to 147 Years in Prison on Charges Related to the Armed Robberies of Six Baltimore-Area Businesses

BALTIMORE—U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Aaron Graham, age 50, of Owings Mills, Maryland, today to 147 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for charges related to the armed robberies of three stores, two fast food restaurants, and a gas station. A federal jury convicted Graham on April 30, 2012, of one count of conspiracy to commit a robbery, six counts of robbery, six counts of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Judge Bennett also found that Graham was a career offender and an armed career criminal based on four previous robbery convictions.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Acting Special Agent in Charge Phil Phillips of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Acting Police Commissioner Anthony Barksdale of the Baltimore City Police Department.

According to the testimony at Graham’s two-week trial, on February 5, 2011, Graham was arrested after robbing two fast food restaurants in Baltimore in less than an hour and pistol whipping a clerk in the first robbery. Graham was identified by witnesses in the restaurants, who also identified the truck that Graham used to escape in each robbery. In addition, police recovered from the front passenger side floor where Graham was sitting a small black pistol with a white handle, later identified as a .25 caliber semi-automatic pistol, which Graham used in both robberies; $83 in cash from the center console of the vehicle; and approximately $1,083.56 that was recovered from Graham and Eric Jordan, the getaway driver.

Evidence at trial proved that Graham had previously robbed four other businesses. A fingerprint taken at the scene proved that Graham robbed a store in Catonsville, Maryland, on January 17, 2011. On January 22, 2011, Graham and four other men robbed a jewelry store in Mondawin Mall, and later that evening, Graham robbed a store on West Franklin Street in Baltimore, threatening to shoot the store employee. The employee took a video of the getaway vehicle—the same truck in which Graham was arrested—with his camera phone. Finally, on February 1, 2011, Graham and two other men robbed a gas station in Gwynn Oak, Maryland. During the robbery Graham brandished a small pistol with a white handle and beat and kicked the cashier. One of the other robbers carried a sawed-off shotgun and assaulted a customer who tried to leave during the robbery.

Co-defendant Eric Jordan, age 49, of Catonsville, Maryland, was also convicted at trial and is scheduled to be sentenced on October 12, 2012.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI and Baltimore Police Department for their work in this investigation and thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Benjamin M. Block and Debra L. Dwyer, who prosecuted the case.