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Press Release

Two Cousins Sentenced To Nine And Seven Years In Federal Prison For The Armed Robbery Of A Cellular Phone Store

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

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                              Contact ELIZABETH MORSE

www.justice.gov/usao/md                                                      at (410) 209-4885

 

 

Greenbelt, Maryland – On Monday, July 24, 2017, Terry Terrell Clipper, age 27, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland was sentenced to nine years in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm. On Thursday, July 20, 2017, Andre Denan Sanders, age 28, of Upper Marlboro, and Clipper’s cousin, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm to 84 months and one day in federal prison. Both Clipper and Sanders pleaded guilty to interference with commerce by robbery and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence in February.

 

The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Stephen M. Schenning; Special Agent in Charge Gordon B. Johnson of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Chief Hank Stawinski of the Prince George’s Police Department; and Chief Douglas Holland of the Hyattsville Police Department.

 

On April 7, 2016, at approximately 10:02 a.m., Clipper and Sanders entered the T-Mobile store located at 3601 East West Highway, in Hyattsville, Maryland. Upon entering the store, Clipper brandished a firearm, pointed it at store employees, and demanded cellular telephones. Clipper and Sanders forced the employees to a stockroom in the rear of the store. Sanders then locked the store entrance, and returned to the stockroom. Clipper and Sanders demanded cellular telephones and other electronic items. The store employees complied and put various electronic items into two plastic bags. Clipper and Sanders then fled the scene in a vehicle at a high rate of speed with two large clear plastic bags containing approximately $16,900 worth of cellular telephones, tablets and watches.

 

One of the electronic devices stolen by Clipper and Sanders contained a Global Positioning System (“GPS”) device. Law enforcement was alerted that the GPS tracking device was traveling in the vicinity of Jefferson Street and 42nd Avenue in Hyattsville, Maryland. When law enforcement officers arrived, they observed Clipper and Sanders fleeing from the area of the getaway vehicle.

 

After a brief foot chase, Clipper and Sanders were taken into custody. Officers recovered a clear plastic bag containing cellular telephones and other electronic items from the ground along the path that the suspects took during the foot chase. Law enforcement also recovered from the vehicle in which the defendants fled a large clear plastic bag containing multiple cellular telephones, tablets and watches, along with a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun loaded with six rounds of ammunition.

 

Acting United States Attorney Stephen M. Schenning commended the FBI’s Cross-Border Task Force, the Hyattsville Police Department, and the Prince George’s County Police Department, for their work in the investigation. Mr. Schenning thanked Assistant United States Attorney Thomas M. Sullivan, who prosecuted the case.

 

Updated July 26, 2017