Quartet Of Men Indicted In String Of AT&T Store Robberies

CONNECTICUT — For Hartford men have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Hartford, charging them in connection with a string of AT&T store robberies earlier this year in Connecticut and western Massachusetts, including a Feb. 24 robbery in Enfield.

Alex Josephs, 21, Ronaldo Smith, 23, Shaquille Raymond, 23, and Deshawn Baugh, 19, were all charged with federal robbery and firearm offenses stemming from four armed robberies and two attempted robberies between Jan. 29 and June 6, according to Leonard C. Boyle, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and David Sundberg, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

According to court documents and statements made in court, the FBI’s Connecticut Violent Crimes Task Force and several police departments earlier this year began investigating a group of individuals who were committing violent armed robberies of AT&T stores in Connecticut. The group typically entered the stores shortly before closing, pointed weapons at employees, and at times pistol-whipped, dragged and shoved employees toward the back inventory room. They then held the employees at gunpoint while loading large bags with cell phones and other electronics. The group stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in merchandise, Boyle said.

The AT&T store robberies took place in Newington on Jan. 29, Enfield on Feb. 24, Canton on April 15, and West Springfield, Mass. on June 6. Robbery attempts were also made at stores in Torrington on May 15 and Glastonbury on May 29, but the perpetrators were locked out of the stores, Boyle said.

Josephs, Smith, Raymond and Baugh were arrested June 6 after fleeing from the West Springfield robbery and leading police on a high-speed chase which ended when their vehicle collided with a Massachusetts State Police cruiser. A search of the vehicle revealed a semiautomatic rifle, three handguns, and merchandise stolen during the robbery, Boyle said.

Saviana Bourne, 23, of Middletown, was the driver of the getaway vehicle which crashed. On Nov. 30, she pleaded guilty in Hartford federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, four counts of Hobbs Act robbery, and two counts of attempted Hobbs Act robbery, Boyle said.

The indictment charges Josephs, Smith, Raymond and Baugh with one count of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years, and one count of brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, which carries a mandatory consecutive sentence of at least seven years of imprisonment. The four were also charged with multiple counts of Hobbs Act Robbery and attempted Hobbs Act robbery, offenses that carry a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years on each court, Boyle said.

Josephs, Smith, Raymond and Baugh have been detained in Massachusetts state custody since their arrests, he added.

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