Jermaine Dawes, a 33-year-old resident of Tampa, has pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery, conspiracy to commit those robberies, and brandishing a firearm during both incidents. The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe. Dawes faces up to 20 years in prison for each robbery charge and a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years, up to life imprisonment, for the firearm offenses. These sentences would be served consecutively if imposed. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.
Dawes is the last member of the group involved in these crimes to plead guilty. His co-defendants—Ronald Brown, E’Barous Harris, and Tra-Vontae Watson—had previously entered guilty pleas and are awaiting sentencing.
Court documents show that in July 2024, Dawes worked with others to rob two convenience stores in Tampa using firearms. Law enforcement found the suspects at a hotel in Tampa several days after the robberies occurred. Surveillance footage from the hotel showed Dawes entering and exiting the driver’s seat of a vehicle used during the robberies while one co-defendant was seen getting into the same vehicle with a firearm. Authorities executed search warrants on several hotel rooms linked to the defendants and recovered a rifle matching one used in the crimes.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, and Tampa Police Department investigated this case. Assistant United States Attorney Samantha Newman is prosecuting.
This prosecution falls under Operation Take Back America—a national initiative led by the Department of Justice aimed at combating illegal immigration, dismantling cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and reducing violent crime across communities by coordinating resources from various federal programs such as Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).
