WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors unsealed cases against six new defendants last week as part of a 21-count indictment outlining an alleged armed robbery scheme that hit more than a dozen pharmacies and cell phone stores ranging from Virginia to New Jersey.
Earlier this month, prosecutors accused Ashley Monique Gause, 30, of D.C., of being the getaway driver for a group that had robbed as many as 18 stores between May 2020 and May 2021. The Justice Department said Gause’s alleged role in the scheme came to an end when she was arrested after a 44-mile police chase following an armed robbery at a CVS store in Anne Arundel County in late May 2021.
On Tuesday, prosecutors unsealed cases against six additional defendants on charges ranging from conspiracy to interfere with interstate commerce by robbery to brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence or drug trafficking offense. The seven defendants named in the indictment were:
- Ashley Monique Gause, aka “Cray”
- D’Marrell Mitchell, aka “Baby”
- Terrance Branham, aka “Von”
- Floyd Neal
- Ashawntea Henderson
- Deaundre Blount
- Glenn Dolford
The 21-count indictment accuses the members of the group of targeting pharmacies and cell phone stores, robbing them at gunpoint – sometimes tying up store clerks in the process – and then selling the stolen medications and phones in the D.C. area.
In addition to a slew of robbery counts each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, all of the defendants except Dolford face a felony count of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone, amphetamine, morphine, tapentadol, hydrocodone and promethazine. Under federal law, conviction of distribution or conspiracy to distribute a schedule II drug like oxycodone also carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
Four of the defendants – Branham, Neal, Mitchell and Gause – face charges of using a firearm during a drug trafficking offense that carry a mandatory minimum sentence of no less than five years in prison upon conviction. Gause and Mitchell also face a more serious version of the charge for brandishing a firearm that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years in prison.
Gause made her initial appearance before a federal magistrate judge earlier this month and was denied bond. It was not immediately clear Tuesday whether any of the newly unsealed defendants had yet made their initial appearances.