Defendants Held Victims at Gunpoint in Backyard of Residence in Northeast Washington
WASHINGTON - Marquell Derrington, 20, and Mark Penamon, 28, both of Washington, D.C., have each been sentenced to 13 years in prison on charges stemming from an armed robbery and armed carjacking in Northeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips announced today.
Derrington and Penamon pled guilty in November 2015, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to carjacking, two counts of armed robbery, and related firearms offenses. They were sentenced on Feb. 19, 2016 by the Honorable Anita Josey-Herring. Upon completion of their prison terms, the defendants will be placed on five years of supervised release.
Derrington and Penamon admitted that, on Oct. 2, 2014, at about 6:50 a.m., they arrived at Derrington’s house via an alley off of the 900 block of I Street NE. At the mouth of the alley, two of the victims, who are home improvement contractors, were working to set up for a project at a home adjacent to the alley. As the defendants drove into the alley, they saw the victims in the backyard of the project site, and decided to rob them. The defendants approached the victims on foot, drew firearms - Derrington’s was a semi-automatic pistol with a lazer mounted on the barrel - and forced the victims to the ground. The third victim, a colleague of the first two, arrived shortly thereafter, and Derrington pistol-whipped him and commanded him and the other two to face the back wall of the house. Derrington and Penamon proceeded to hold the victims at gunpoint and rob them of their personal property. Penamon robbed one of the victim of his truck keys, and, while Derrington held all three victims at gunpoint, Penamon got the truck and drove it immediately next to the robbery location. Penamon went back to join Derrington in completing the robberies, and then both defendants fled in the victim’s vehicle.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Phillips commended the work of those who investigated the case for the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). He also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including former Paralegal Specialist Todd McClelland and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nihar Mohanty, Kacie Weston, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney David Rubenstein. Finally, he thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Marston and Laura Crane, of the Felony Major Crimes Trial Section, who prosecuted the matter.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
