BALTIMORE, MD—A Washington, D.C. man has been sentenced to federal prison for his role in robbing four cell phone stores across Maryland at gunpoint, officials say.

Xavier Jones, 26, was involved in robberies at Verizon and AT&T stores in Baltimore County, Howard County, and Prince George’s County, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

During the robberies, Jones and his accomplices threatened to kill employees and customers, pepper sprayed victims, and moved victims throughout the stores at gunpoint.

The final robbery occurred on December 23, 2020, at an AT&T store in Owings Mills. Jones and two other men entered the store, with one of them pretending to be a customer. Once inside, they brandished firearms and announced a robbery.

The robbers stole $48,767 worth of Apple and Samsung Galaxy devices, as well as $322 from the cash register. They also pepper sprayed three victims and fled in a stolen Kia Niro.

Unknown to the robbers, they had taken a 3SI GPS tracker with them in one of the stolen phone boxes. Law enforcement tracked the stolen vehicle to a single-family residence in Catonsville, where they found the stolen AT&T merchandise and a stolen Dodge Caravan from a previous robbery.

Jones was involved in three other cell phone store robberies prior to the Owings Mills incident.

On October 23, 2020, he and another robber stole $21,440.93 in mobile devices from a Verizon store in College Park.

On December 8, 2020, Jones and a co-conspirator robbed a Russell Cellular Verizon store in Columbia, stealing $22,000.33 worth of mobile devices and $1,273 from a safe.

On December 17, 2020, Jones and another robber struck again at a Russell Cellular Verizon store in Halethorpe. They stole approximately $27,940 worth of electronic devices and $1,313 from the cash register.

Jones has been sentenced to 22 years in federal prison and three years of supervised release for his role in these robberies. He has also been ordered to pay $74,141.26 in restitution.

Acting U.S. Attorney Phil Selden, Special Agent in Charge William J. DelBagno of the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office, and Baltimore County Police Chief Robert McCullough announced the sentence.

Two of Jones’ accomplices, Rico Dashiell, 26, and Donte Herring, 25, have also been sentenced. Dashiell received a 12-year sentence, and Herring was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

This article was written with the assistance of AI and reviewed by a human editor.