Defendant Already Serving 308-Month Sentence For Armed Carjacking and Armored Car Robbery in Maryland
WASHINGTON - Marcellus Freeman, 27, of Washington, D.C., has been sentenced to 110 months in prison on a federal firearms charge, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, Andrew W. Vale, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
Freeman pled guilty in October 2017 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He was sentenced on Dec. 21, 2017, by the Honorable Reggie B. Walton. The sentence is to run consecutively to a 308-month sentence that Freeman is serving in a federal armed carjacking and armored car robbery case prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.
According to the government’s evidence, on Oct. 26, 2012, Freeman and three other men were involved in an armed robbery of an armored car, a carjacking, and shooting in Takoma Park, Md. The men shot at the armored car driver and a bystander who was the victim of the armed carjacking. The armored car driver was not injured. The bystander, however, was shot in the neck and arm, and required multiple surgeries. Freeman’s fingerprints were found on the armored car’s moneybag and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
On Feb. 18, 2013, Freeman was driving an automobile owned by his girlfriend when he was pulled over by police in the District of Columbia. He provided a false identification card and gave an address in Southeast Washington. Once officers realized the identification card was fake, Freeman provided yet another false name. Officers placed Freeman under arrest when they could not verify his information. Freeman told officers he lived with his girlfriend and asked the officers to call her to retrieve the car and his personal belongings. The girlfriend responded and retrieved the items. She provided the same Southeast Washington address as her place of residence. The FBI learned of Freeman’s arrest, confirmed the girlfriend’s address, and obtained a search warrant for the apartment in connection with the Maryland armored car investigation.
The FBI executed a search of the apartment on Feb. 20, 2013. During the search, the FBI recovered crack cocaine as well as a 50-round ammunition box that contained 42 rounds of.380 caliber ammunition. The agents then recovered a Smith & Wesson.380 caliber pistol that was loaded with eight rounds of ammunition, matching those found in the ammunition box, between the mattress and the box spring in the bedroom.
Forensic testing subsequently revealed Freeman’s fingerprints on the ammunition box that contained 42 rounds of ammunition. Freeman acknowledged, as part of his plea in this case, that he possessed the firearm in connection with his possession with the intent to distribute the crack cocaine.
In Maryland, Freeman previously pled guilty to robbery, discharging a gun during the robbery, and carjacking for his role in the crimes that took place in Takoma Park.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu, Assistant Director in Charge Vale, and Chief Newsham commended the work of those who investigated the case from the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the Metropolitan Police Department. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, including Paralegal Specialists Jeannette Litz and Mary Downing; Legal Assistants Kate Abrey, Holly Crouse, and Latoya Wade; Clerk Antonia Jackson, and Interns Jeslin Panicker and Max Ruocco. Finally, they expressed appreciation for the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys George Eliopoulos and Akhi Johnson, who prosecuted the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
