GREENBELT, Md. – Donnell Edward Harris, age 21, of Burtonsville, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to robbing a convenience store in Waldorf, Maryland, and to brandishing a gun during the robbery.
The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge William P. McMullan of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - Baltimore Field Division; Chief J. Thomas Manger of the Montgomery County Police Department; and Charles County Sheriff Troy Berry.
According to Harris’ plea agreement, on September 11, 2013, Harris, Charles Johnson and Madani Tejan robbed a convenience store on St. Ignatius Drive in Waldorf. Harris brandished a firearm during the robbery and the conspirators forced the store employee at gunpoint to open the store’s cash register. The robbers stole $90 in cash and several packs of cigarettes.
Harris also admitted that after he was arrested for the robbery and while he was incarcerated, he threatened to hurt co-conspirator Charles Johnson if Johnson did not lie to law enforcement by stating that he (Johnson) had brandished the firearm during the robbery.
Johnson, age 20, of Beltsville, Maryland, and Madani Ilara Tejan, age 32, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, previously pleaded guilty to the robbery.
Harris, Johnson and Tejan each face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the robbery. Harris also faces a mandatory seven years, consecutive to any other sentence, and up to life in prison, for brandishing a gun in relation to a crime of violence. U.S. District Judge George Jerrod Hazel has scheduled sentencing for Harris on March 20, 2015, at 9:00 a.m. Johnson and Tejan are both scheduled to be sentenced on January 12, 2015, at 9:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., respectively.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the ATF, Montgomery County Police Department and Charles County Sheriff’s Office for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Leah J. Bressack and Daniel Gardner, who are prosecuting the case.
Source: Office of United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein