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Press Release

District Men Sentenced to 10-Year Prison Terms for Armed Robberies Targeting Commercial Establishments

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia
Series of Crimes Took Place Across Area in 2017

            WASHINGTON – Jarvell Kent, 21, and Olona Roba, 20, of Washington, D.C., have been sentenced to 10-year prison terms on federal charges stemming from their involvement in a total of four armed robberies that were committed in three quadrants of the District of Columbia.

            The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, Nancy McNamara, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Kent and Roba pled guilty in January 2019, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to one count of using, carrying, possessing, and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence and two counts of interference with interstate commerce by robbery, for four separate incidents. They were sentenced on April 23, 2019, by the Honorable Randolph D. Moss. Following their prison terms, they will be placed on five years of supervised release.

            The government’s evidence established that Kent and Roba robbed two 7-Eleven convenience stores at gunpoint, while wearing masks.  During both armed robberies, one of the weapons used was a large black sub‑machine gun style firearm with an extended magazine. The first robbery took place on May 5, 2017, at approximately 11:40 p.m., at a store in the 3200 block of Pennsylvania Avenue SE. The second was on May 11, 2017, at approximately 1 a.m., at a store in the 4400 block of Benning Road NE.

            In addition to the armed robberies that the defendants jointly committed, each defendant admitted involvement in additional armed robberies.  Kent pled guilty to a May 15, 2017, armed robbery of another 7-Eleven located in the 900 block of 17th Street NW, and Roba pled guilty to a March 4, 2017, armed robbery of a carryout driver in the 5800 block of Southern Avenue SE, a crime in which shots were fired at the carryout driver as he fled from the scene.

            Kent and Roba were arrested in May 2017 and have been in custody ever since.

            In announcing the sentences, U.S. Attorney Liu, Assistant Director in Charge McNamara, and Chief Newsham commended the work of the FBI Agents and MPD officers who linked together investigations that spanned three quadrants of the District of Columbia and arrested Kent and Roba.  They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brittany Keil, Laura Crane, and William Schurmann, with assistance from former Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Kerkhoff, Paralegal Specialists Rommel Pachoca and Antoinette Sakamsa, and Legal Assistant Peter Gaboton.

Updated April 24, 2019

Topics
Firearms Offenses
Violent Crime
Press Release Number: 19-65