Oakland, California - Melvin Landry, Jr. and Dominique Marquis Martin were sentenced on Tuesday, for their participation in a case involving a spree of armed robberies of commercial businesses in and around the Bay Area, announced Acting United States Attorney Brian J. Stretch; FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Johnson; and Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Acting Special Agent in Charge Thomas McMahon.
Landry, 24, of Oakland, was sentenced to 685 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $52,387.28. Martin, 24, also of Oakland, was sentenced to 661 months in prison and ordered to pay $53,387.28 in restitution.
Landry and Martin were defendants in a 25-count Superseding Indictment filed on July 29, 2014. Both defendants were charged with, among other things, conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce (Hobbs Act robbery) and Hobbs Act robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 951(a); and use, possession, and brandishing of a firearm in furtherance of and during and in relation to a crime of violence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c).
According to evidence presented at trial, beginning in 2012, the defendants, operating with others in the greater Bay Area including Mill Valley, Fremont, and San Leandro, engaged in numerous armed robberies of McDonald’s restaurants and Walmart stores. During these robberies, the defendants brandished firearms and stole cash and checks while the stores were full of customers. The defendants and others broadcast and boasted about their criminal activities on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. The defendants appeared in pictures taken in the aftermath of their crimes in which they were rolling around in large amounts of cash. They also documented themselves on spending sprees with the proceeds from their robberies. On July, 1, 2015, a jury found Landry and Martin guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce, robbery affecting interstate commerce, and using/possessing/brandishing a firearm in furtherance of and during and in relation to a crime of violence.
The sentence was handed down on October 13, 2015, by the Honorable Jeffrey S. White, United States District Judge. Landry and Martin have been in federal custody since July 29, 2013, and will begin serving their sentence immediately.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Kathryn Haun, Cynthia Frey, and Kimberly Hopkins with the assistance of Kevin Costello, Daniel Charlier-Smith, Ponly Tu, and Assistant United States Attorney Olusere Olowoyeye of the Eastern District of California. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, the California Highway Patrol, the Fremont Police Department, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department, the Alameda County DA’s Office, the San Leandro Police Department, the San Mateo Police Department, the San Mateo District Attorney’s Office, the Oakland Police Department, the Pinole Police Department, the San Rafael Police Department, the Marin County Sheriff’s Office, the Antioch Police Department, the Richmond Police Department, the Vallejo Police Department, and the Sacramento Police Department.
