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Press Release

Durham Man Sentenced for Conspiracy to Rob Certain Business Owners in Their Homes and on Drug Charges

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of North Carolina

GREENSBORO, N.C. – A Durham man who participated in the home invasion robbery of a tobacco store owner was sentenced to prison Thursday, announced Matthew G.T. Martin, United States Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina.

DEION TYRELL LILES, age 23, pleaded guilty on September 6, 2018, to distribution of cocaine, and on August 19, 2019, to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery. LILES was sentenced for both convictions on November 7, 2019, by United States District Judge N. Carlton Tilley, Jr. to 84 months of imprisonment, followed by 3 years of supervised release.

LILES was one of eleven defendants identified as members of the Nine Trey Gangstas who committed acts of violence throughout North Carolina and along the entire east coast of the United States. That gang systematically targeted Middle Eastern and Asian business owners for home-invasion robberies after discovering that these owners often kept the proceeds of their respective businesses at their homes. LILES was one of seven defendants who took part in the robbery of a tobacco store owner at the store owner’s Durham home on December 20, 2016. Gang members including LILES had followed the store owner from his tobacco store business to his residence prior to the robbery.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Durham Police Department, and the Durham County Sheriff’s Office, and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Terry M. Meinecke for the Middle District of North Carolina.

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Updated November 12, 2019