WASHINGTON - Diamond Cooper, 35, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to a 7 ½-year prison term for a series of armed robberies, carried out while he was on supervised release for a prior conviction, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.
Cooper pled guilty in December 2014, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to one count of armed robbery, one count of attempted robbery, and one count of second-degree theft. He was sentenced by the Honorable John McCabe. Upon completion of his prison term, Cooper will be placed on five years of supervised release.
According to the government’s evidence, Cooper committed three separate armed robberies in Northwest Washington within a 24-hour period. Beginning on the evening of Sept. 5, 2014, he stole a victim’s iPhone and cash in the 1700 block of Swann Street NW. At gunpoint, the victim was forced to stay on the ground and count while Cooper fled the scene. Then, less than 24 hours later, Cooper committed similar armed robberies in the 1400 block of R Street NW and the 1400 block of Florida Street NW. In both robberies, Cooper instructed the victims at gunpoint to lay on the ground and count or they would be shot.
After the last robbery, members of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) tracked a stolen iPhone to Cooper’s location, where he was in possession of a BB gun and one of the victim’s iPhones. Cooper was arrested on Sept. 6, 2014.
At the time of his arrest, Cooper was on supervised release following his conviction in 2006 on drug offenses.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen commended the work of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Third District. He also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialist Allison Daniels and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Macchiaroli, of the Felony Major Crimes Trial Section, who prosecuted the matter.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
