Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces The Arrest Of Sean Austin And Braulio Moncion For Gunpoint Robbery Of The Customer Center In Yonkers, New York

Joon H. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, William F. Sweeney Jr., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and Charles Gardner, Commissioner of the Yonkers Police Department (“YPD”), announced the arrest of SEAN AUSTIN and BRAULIO MONCION on charges of Hobbs Act robbery and a firearms offense.

According to the allegations contained in the Complaint[1] charging AUSTIN and MONCION, and other documents in the public record:

On August 12, 2017, AUSTIN and MONCION committed a gunpoint robbery of The Customer Center, doing business as Sprint, located in Yonkers, New York.  AUSTIN entered the store carrying a silver firearm.  He displayed the firearm to two store employees, racked the slide, and instructed them not to move.  MONCION subsequently entered the store, at which point AUSTIN and MONCION took cellphones, cash, and car keys from the employees.  AUSTIN and MONCION then ordered the employees to remain in the bathroom of the store while they stole numerous cellphones.  The robbery was captured on the store’s surveillance cameras.  Following the robbery, AUSTIN and MONCION fled in one of the employee’s vehicles, which had been parked outside the store.  Law enforcement pursued AUSTIN and MONCION to the Bronx, where they were ultimately apprehended by the Yonkers Police Department.   Numerous stolen cellphones were recovered from the vehicle that AUSTIN and MONCION had used to flee the scene.  In addition, law enforcement recovered a firearm and ammunition magazine that the defendants had discarded during the pursuit. 

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AUSTIN, 44, of New York, New York, and MONCION, 41, of the Bronx, New York, are each charged with one count of Hobbs Act robbery, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.  The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by a judge.

AUSTIN and MONCION were arrested on August 12, 2017, and were presented today in White Plains federal court before United States Magistrate Judge Paul E. Davison and detained on consent.

Mr. Kim praised the investigative work of the Yonkers Police Department and the FBI’s Westchester County Safe Streets Task Force, which comprises agents and task force officers from the FBI, the U.S. Probation Office, the Westchester County Police Department, the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, the New York City Police Department, the City of Yonkers Police Department, the Peekskill Police Department, and the Mount Vernon Police Department. 

The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s White Plains Division.  Assistant United States Attorneys Christopher J. Clore and Gillian Grossman are in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.