FEDS: Met Up With People Selling Electronics Online…Then Robbed Them At Gunpoint.
BY: STAFF REPORT | BocaNewsNow.com
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2024 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — Local police departments across South Florida welcome buyers and sellers to conduct EBay, OfferUp, and other online transactions in their lobbies so there is a “safe space” to meet someone you don’t know. The Department of Justice says Jordan Lewis is a reason why this is important. The South Florida man was just sentenced to 24 years in federal prison for robbing, at gunpoint, several people believing they were selling Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) products to an interested buyer from “OfferUp.” That buyer was Lewis. Here’s what the DOJ told BocaNewsNow.com:
“Last month, Jordan Denzel Lewis, 24, was sentenced to 336 months in federal prison for conspiring to rob and robbing several people who had various types of Apple products for sale on the online marketplace application OfferUp. His co-defendants Tyrell Brion Bouie, Anthony Christopher Diggs Jr., and Johntaevious Henry Johnson were sentenced to 126, 108, and 47 months, respectively, in federal prison. Each defendant previously pled guilty for his respective involvement in the conspiracy and was ordered to serve five years of supervised release following the prison sentence imposed by U. S. District Judge Raag Singhal.
From September to October 2022, Lewis, Bouie, Diggs, and Johnson contacted victims who had posted electronics for sale online through OfferUp. After contacting the victims and pretending to be interested in purchasing the electronics, Lewis and his co-defendants would meet the victims at an agreed public location such as a parking lot or restaurant, and instead of purchasing the items, Lewis, Bouie, Diggs, and Johnson would rob the victims. On some occasions, they brandished guns or used violence during the robberies.
U. S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri of the FBI, Miami Field Office, and Chief W. Howard Harrison of the Plantation Police Department made the announcement.
FBI Miami and Plantation Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U. S. Attorneys Deric Zacca and Vanessa Bonhomme prosecuted it.
This case was part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce gun violence and other violent crime, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results. For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit Justice.gov/PSN.“
