Memphis, TN - After a week-long jury trial, a Memphis man was found guilty of robbing two businesses and using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during those robberies. U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant for the Western District of Tennessee announced the verdict today.
According to information presented in court, on Monday, June 11, 2018, at approximately 8:30 a.m., Kewan Callicutt, 34, and his girlfriend Nitika Wilkerson, 35, entered the Family Dollar Store located at 4330 Winchester Road and robbed the business at gunpoint. They took $738.74 from the registers and safe and fled the scene on foot. Callicutt had been wearing a fake beard, Army hat, blue FedEx hoodie, white sunglasses, blue pants, and was armed with a silver and black semiautomatic handgun.
At approximately 9:50 p.m. on July 22, 2018, Callicutt entered the Family Dollar Store located at 3255 Hickory Hill Road and robbed that business at gunpoint. He was wearing a fake beard, Army hat, sunglasses, plaid shirt, and was armed with a silver and black semiautomatic handgun. Callicutt was unaware that he took a GPS tracking device when he stole the money from the business. Soon after he left the business, Memphis Police Communications began receiving real-time locations of the tracking device and subsequently traced it to Callicutt’s address at 5391 Newberry Road. Memphis Police Officers responded to that address and observed a black Mazda M26 backed into the driveway with its headlights on. As officers approached the vehicle, Callicutt opened the passenger’s side door and fled the scene on foot, leaving Wilkerson inside the vehicle. Wilkerson was taken into custody. She pleaded guilty to both robberies on February 7, 2019, and is set for sentencing June 19, 2019.
Sentencing for Callicutt is set for July 19, 2019, before United States District Judge Mark Norris, where he faces possible sentences of up to 20 years for each robbery, and a mandatory minimum consecutive sentence of 14 years for brandishing a firearm during each crime of violence.
U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant said, "Robberies of businesses with a firearm are especially dangerous and violent due to the high risk of death and serious bodily injury to innocent victims. Business robberies also have a substantially negative impact on the local economy and commerce, which victimizes the entire community. As demonstrated in this case, we will not tolerate this senseless gun violence and will use all available resources to remove dangerous offenders from our communities for a very long time."
The case was investigated by the FBI Safe Streets Task Force.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Hartridge is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
