26-Year-Old Javaughn Berry Sentenced To 115 Months In Federal Prison For Commercial Robberies
BALTIMORE (WJZ) --Officials announced that 26-year-old Javaughn Berry, of Baltimore, was sentenced o 115 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release for three armed commercial robberies.
According to his guilty plea, from October 2019 to December 2019, Berry and a partner committed three armed commercial robberies. In each robbery, the robbers showed a firearm and stole a victim's vehicle to flee the scene. Investigators with the FBI obtained cell phone records that showed that Berry and his partner's phones were close to each of the victim businesses around the time of the robberies.
The plea agreement also shows that Berry and a partner robbed a Baltimore pharmacy. After the robbery, Baltimore Police Department responded to the scene and spoke to a victim who reported that the two men wore black masks, black gloves, glasses, and yellow reflective vests.
Before the robbery, both men were picking up trash in the parking lot. When the pharmacy opened at 8:00 a.m., the suspects entered. One suspect pointed a black revolver at an employee and demanded access to the safe. The suspects took $1,630 in cash from the safe and tied the victim's hands with zip ties.
They also took the victim's keys and fled in the victim's vehicle.
Berry and his partner also robbed a retail store in Millersville, Maryland, on November 17, 2019. Victims reported to Anne Arundel County Police that two men entered the store as it was closing and demanded money. The suspects stole $3,200 in cash and zip-tied the employees.
One of the suspects struck a victim on the head and pulled her to the ground. Just like the pharmacy robbery, Berry and his partner fled the scene by stealing an employee's vehicle.
Lastly, Berry admitted that he and his partner robbed a Parkville, Maryland chain restaurant. On the morning of December 13, 2019, Baltimore County Police Department (BCPD) detectives responded to the restaurant and found the shift manager and his co-worker inside.
According to the victim employees, the shift manager and co-worker unlocked the front doors and two male suspects entered the store wearing dark, hooded sweatshirts and masks. Berry's partner approached the shift manager, pulled out a revolver, and demanded that he open the safe. Berry's partner stole $3,393.37 in cash, then put the shift manager's wrists and ankles in zip ties.
On December 14, 2019, a BCPD officer found the vehicle stolen during the restaurant robbery parked a few blocks away from Berry's residence. BCPD officers placed a GPS device on the vehicle to track its movements.
Berry and his partner were arrested on December 16, 2019, after BCPD tracked the stolen vehicle to the intersection of Joppa Road and Harford Road in Carney, Maryland. The partner was driving behind the stolen vehicle and was stopped by officers and arrested. After getting a search warrant for the car, officers found a black replica handgun, several black gloves, black zip ties, and a yellow reflective vest.
Investigators continued following the stolen vehicle that was driven by Berry. Berry then abandoned the car and fled on foot. Investigators found Berry walking along Harford Road soon afterward. He showed investigators the call log on his phone, which showed several recently completed and missed calls to the partner's number.
After waiving his Miranda rights, Berry told officers that he saw the stolen car earlier that morning and wanted to take it for a joy ride.
A search warrant executed on his phone showed photos of Berry holding large amounts of cash that were taken on the morning of the first robbery. Another warrant that was executed on the partner's phone showed a picture of a vehicle similar to the vehicle stolen from the employee in the second robbery.
Berry admitted that he took money from the victims, against the victims' wills, by using actual or threatened force, violence, or fear of injury.