Serial Robber Sentenced to 13 Years in Federal Prison

Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Shaykh Abdul-Majid, age 34, of Washington, D.C. to 13 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for committing a series of armed robberies and for brandishing a firearm in relation to a violent crime. 

The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Sobocinski of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; and Chief Malik Aziz of the Prince George’s County Police Department.

According to his plea agreement, from March 28, 2020 to July 5, 2020 Abdul-Majid committed at least four robberies in which he posed as a customer before pointing a semi-automatic handgun at a victim employee, demanding store proceeds, and obtaining funds.

Specifically, on July 5, 2020, Abdul-Majid posed as a customer at a Kettering, Maryland business and pointed a silver and black handgun at a victim employee while demanding store proceeds.  The victim employee complied with the demands and gave Abdul-Majid $200 in store funds. Abdul-Majid then instructed the victim employee to move to the store’s back storage area. Fearing that he would be shot, the victim employee attempted to remove the handgun from Abdul-Majid’s possession. During the struggle for the handgun, two rounds of ammunition were discharged. Neither round struck the victim employee, but his hands and fingers were badly cut as he tried to prevent the handgun’s slide from racking as casings were ejected. After the struggle, Abdul-Majid fled on foot with the stolen funds.  In each robbery, Abdul-Majid drove the same vehicle with identifying Washington, D.C. registration plates.

As stated in the plea agreement, on July 7, 2020, detectives located Abdul-Majid’s vehicle in Washington, D.C. while Abdul-Majid was inside the vehicle. Upon seeing law enforcement, Abdul-Majid fled from his vehicle on foot. While a K-9 search was being conducted, Abdul-Majid announced his presence to law enforcement as the K-9 was searching the area where he was hiding. Abdul-Majid was then taken into custody.

Law enforcement executed a search warrant on Abdul-Majid’s vehicle and recovered a black-colored ball cap with the word “SLANE” stitched above the bill as well as a red glove. Both items are consistent with the items worn by Abdul-Majid in two of the robberies. Officers also recovered a victim’s wallet, five cell phones, a silver and black handgun, and $43.00 in cash.

In total, the four victim businesses Abdul-Majid robbed experienced a loss of at least $8,550.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner praised the FBI and the Prince George’s County Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes who prosecuted the case.

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