TEMPLE HILLS, MD — A Prince George's County man has been sentenced after he and others set fire to 7-Eleven convenience stores then stole cash from the ATMs in the burned buildings.
Stephen Kennedy, 34, of Temple Hills has been sentenced to 45 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to commit arson, arson affecting interstate commerce, commercial robbery, using or carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, carrying an explosive device during the commission of a felony and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Kennedy also was ordered by a judge to pay $367,354.82 in restitution.
In February 2025, after a five-day trial, a federal jury found Kennedy guilty of the aforementioned charges. His sentencing was announced Tuesday.
According to court documents, from at least January 2021 to January 2022, Kennedy and co-conspirators, including co-defendant Donnell Kelly, conspired to commit arsons at 7-Eleven convenience stores. The co-conspirators set the fires so they could later steal the cash contained in ATMs in the stores.
Kennedy, Kelly and other co-conspirators traveled to 7-Eleven locations while they were open for business and deployed explosive devices to set fire to the buildings. On at least one occasion, a co-conspirator demanded the contents from the store’s cash register. The co-conspirators burned the stores to force their closure and then shut off power to the security cameras, which enabled them to return to the unguarded locations to burglarize the ATMs, court documents showed.
This scheme resulted in losses to the ATM company of at least $90,000.
In October 2024, Kelly, who also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit arson, received a 10-year prison term, followed by three years of supervised release.
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