LOS ANGELES
A member of the “Chesapeake Bandits,” a group of law enforcement officials, was sentenced Friday to 14 years in federal prison, according to authorities.
He served as a lookout during an armed robbery of an armored truck, which resulted in the theft of over $160,000 in cash and involved the firing of a handgun.
U.S. District Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha sentenced James Russell Davis, 35, of the Los Angeles neighborhood of West Adams.
The judge also required Davis to pay $166,640 in restitution.
Davis pleaded guilty on Feb. 16 to one count of interference with commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act) and one count of discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Davis has been in federal custody since March 2023.
“Imagine the terror of being pulled to the ground with a gun pointed at your head. Davis and his accomplices violently ambushed an individual just doing his job so they could make off with other people’s money,” said Krysti Hawkins, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “This significant sentence cannot undo the emotional and psychological damage inflicted on the victim, but we hope it sends a clear message that we will continue to pursue the most violent and persistent offenders and hold them accountable for their blatant disregard for human life and the safety of our communities.”
In February 2022, Davis and a co-conspirator scoped out a credit union in Hawthorne and planned to ambush the truck driver after he finished servicing an ATM.
Several weeks later, Davis and his accomplices returned to the site, executing their planned armed robbery of the same armored truck driver refilling ATMs.
Davis maintained a lookout position, conducting countersurveillance nearby, while his partners, armed with an AR-style rifle and a semi-automatic handgun, emerged from their vehicle.
During the robbery, one of the conspirators forced the victim to the ground by pressing a firearm to his head. At the same time, a co-conspirator took the victim’s service pistol from his waistband and kept a gun pointed at the victim to restrain him during the robbery.
Davis’ co-conspirators then took cash and customer checks from the ATMs and bags nearby. During the robbery, Davis’ co-conspirator discharged one of the handguns he was carrying.
Davis’ co-conspirators stole bags filled with a total of about $166,640 in cash belonging to the armored car company.
Deneyvous Jayan Hobson, 38, also of the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles, this case’s lead defendant, has pleaded not guilty to charges in this case.
His trial is scheduled for September 3. Hobson is charged with one count of Hobbs Act conspiracy, one count of Hobbs Act robbery, one count of using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
The FBI, the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and the Hawthorne Police Department investigated this matter.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kevin J. Butler and Jena A. MacCabe of the Violent and Organized Crime Section and Jason C. Pang of the General Crimes Section are prosecuting this case.