Washington, DC Man Sentenced to 75 Years in Prison for Armed Robbery and Carjacking Shootings

Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced Anthony Terrell Cannon, age 26, of Washington, D.C., today to 75 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiracy, robbery, carjacking, and two counts of discharging a gun during a crime of violence, and interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle, in connection with an armored car robbery and a carjacking in which a victim was shot in the arm and head. Cannon was convicted on September 12, 2014.

Judge Chasanow ordered that 50 years of today’s sentence is to be served consecutive to the 60 year sentence Cannon previously received in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia for other crimes.  Cannon has also been sentenced to life in prison in the Prince George’s County Circuit Court. 

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; the members of the FBI Cross Border Task Force - Special Agent in Charge Kevin Perkins of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Assistant Director in Charge Paul M. Abbate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Washington Field Office; Chief Hank Stawinski of the Prince George’s County Police Department; Chief J. Thomas Manger of the Montgomery County Police Department; Chief Cathy L. Lanier of the Metropolitan Police Department; Chief Alan Goldberg of the Takoma Park Police Department; Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy; and Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Angela D. Alsobrooks.   

According to the evidence presented at Cannon’s two week trial, on October 26, 2012, Cannon, Tonnie Floyd, and Marcellus Ramone Freeman, a/k/a Derrick Relando Pitts, driving a stolen Jeep, followed a Garda Cash Logistics armored transport vehicle to the Cricket store located in the 1300 block of University Boulevard East, Takoma Park, Maryland. A Garda employee exited the armored truck, went into the store and picked up a bag containing $3,911.  As the employee returned to the armored truck, he was confronted by two co-conspirators with guns. The Garda employee dropped the money bag and at least one co-conspirator fired a gun at the employee. The employee shot back. One of the co-conspirators picked up the money bag.  The co-conspirators ran back to the stolen Jeep. As the co-conspirators drove away, the employee continued to fire his handgun at the Jeep, striking a tire and the back window. Floyd was wounded in the shoulder during the gunfire.

The co-conspirators left the Jeep in a neighborhood nearby because it had a flat tire as a result of the shooting.  They saw a man entering a vehicle, and shot the man in the arm and head, causing permanent and life-threatening bodily injury, then stole his vehicle.  They drove the vehicle into the District of Columbia, where they set it on fire.

Police evidence personnel recovered blood containing DNA of Floyd from the back seat of the Jeep.  Floyd went to a hospital in the District of Columbia for medical treatment of his gunshot wound on October 26, 2012 at approximately 8:20 p.m. The Garda money bag was found in the Jeep and the bag had Freeman’s finger and palm prints upon it.  A drink bottle was recovered from the front console area of the Jeep Cherokee that had DNA of Cannon on the top area that would have come into contact with his mouth when drinking.

The evidence also included a recorded call between Cannon and an inmate at Prince George’s County Detention Center in which Cannon acknowledged his participation in the crimes and expressed disappointment in leaving an evidence trail in the stolen Jeep.

Co-conspirator Tonnie Floyd, age 23, of Washington, D.C., previously pleaded guilty to robbery, and discharging a gun during the robbery and carjacking and was sentenced to 222 months in prison.  Marcellus Ramone Freeman, a/k/a Derrick Relando Pitts, age 24, also of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty to the same offenses. Freeman and the government have agreed that if the Court accepts his plea, Freeman will be sentenced to between 241 months and 30 years in prison at his sentencing on June 6, 2016.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the FBI Baltimore and Washington Field Offices, the Prince George’s County and Montgomery County Police Departments, the Metropolitan Police Department, the Takoma Park Police Department and the Prince George’s County and Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Offices for their work in the investigation and prosecution.  Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys William D. Moomau and Bryan E. Foreman, who prosecuted the case.