New Jersey Man Sentenced to More Than Eight Years in Prison on Robbery, Drug, and Weapons Charges

CAMDEN, NJ—A Voorhees, N.J., man who used his share of more than $65,000 robbed from a gas station owner to purchase cocaine with the intent to sell the drug was sentenced today to 100 months in prison.

Donnell Cheek, 27, previously pleaded guilty to an information charging him with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, possession of a weapon in furtherance of drug trafficking and robbery. He also previously pleaded guilty to violation of the terms of his supervised release from prison from an earlier criminal conviction. The plea was entered before U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez, who pronounced sentence today in Camden federal court.

According to documents in this case and statements made in court:

On June 11, 2010, Donnell Cheek told his brother, Dashawn Cheek, 22, also of Voorhees, about a tip he had received from Stephanie Jordan, 23, of Deptford, N.J., a teller at the TD Bank in Deptford, regarding a bank customer who made large cash deposits. The customer owned several gas stations. On the day of the robbery, the two brothers and co-conspirator Jamaine Levi, 23, of Lindenwold, waited near the gas station owner’s house and then followed him to several gas stations and to the TD Bank in Deptford.

At the bank, Donnell and Dashawn Cheek got out of the car, approached the gas station owner, and took his blue Sunoco money bag containing approximately $65,440 in proceeds of his gas stations’ sales. After stealing the money, the Cheeks ran back to where Levi was waiting in the car. They later split the cash. Donnell Cheek admitted during his guilty plea that he used his share to buy cocaine. When Voorhees Township Police executed a search warrant at his home on July 1, 2010, they recovered cocaine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, weapons, ammunition, and cash.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Rodriguez sentenced Donnell Cheek to five years’ supervised release and pay $72,684 in restitution.

Levi previously pleaded guilty to robbery and was sentenced July 27, 2011, to 46 months in prison. Jordan previously pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting robbery and was sentenced Aug. 9, 2011, to 41 months in prison.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI’s South Jersey Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George C. Venizelos, in Philadelphia; investigators with the Camden County and Gloucester County Prosecutors’ Offices, under the direction of Prosecutors Warren W. Faulk and Sean F. Dalton, respectively; and officers with the Voorhees and Deptford Township Police Departments.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason M. Richardson of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.

Defense counsel: Lisa Evans Lewis Esq., Assistant Federal Public Defender, Camden