CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- A Poplar Bluff man became the first of five to be sentenced to federal prison for illegally possessing firearms stolen during a February 2017 burglary at Instapawn on Highway NN.
Demarlon Richardson, 24, of the 200 block of Midland Street, appeared before U.S. District Judge Steven Limbaugh Jr. for sentencing on Tuesday after he earlier pleaded guilty to the felony of possession of stolen firearms, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Sorrell.
Limbaugh sentenced Richardson to one year and one day in prison, followed by a three-year period of supervised release, Sorrell said.
Richardson was sentenced the day after the final of his accomplices, Antywan Seawood, pleaded guilty in federal court.
"Demarlon Richardson, Germonde Brunner, Arlandus Howard, Norlando Jackson and Antywan Seawood have all been found guilty of burglarizing a firearms dealer known as Instapawn, located just east of Poplar Bluff, Mo.," Sorrell said.
Howard was convicted after a trial; the other four pleaded guilty to the charges, Sorrell said.
The five men broke into Instapawn early in the morning of Feb. 28, 2017, and stole more than 60 firearms, Sorrell said.
According to the plea agreements filed in the men's cases, one of the men threw a rock or a brick at a store window to break it.
"Officers reviewed the store's security video and observed several people inside the store," Richardson's plea agreement says. "One of the persons resembled Demarlon Richardson."
Officers reportedly obtained a search warrant for a Cynthia Street home occupied by relatives of Richardson.
"When that warrant was executed, the officers found 10 firearms that had been stolen from Instapawn, along with sales tags and other personal property taken the night before from Instapawn," the agreement further says.
Officers reportedly found Richardson in East St. Louis, Ill., and interviewed him.
Richardson admitted he, Brunner, Jackson, Seawood and Howard broke into the store and took firearms and personal property.
"Richardson stated that the group divided the firearms and other property between them" at the Cynthia Street residence, the plea agreement says.
The stolen firearms included various calibers of handguns and rifles manufactured by Glock, Berretta, Kimber, Colt, Ruger, Smith & Wesson and Remington.
Sorrell said Brunner, 21, Howard, 21, Jackson, 20, and Seawood, 20, all of East St. Louis, Ill., also have been found guilty of committing the federal crime of carjacking and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence for their participation in forcibly stealing a car from a victim in Clayton, Mo., on Feb. 27, 2017.
The carjacking victim, according to the men's plea agreements, was parked in her car outside her Clayton home at about 10:15 p.m. when Jackson, Brunner, Howard and Seawood walked up to her car.
The men had taken one of the last Metro trains that evening from East St. Louis to Clayton and planned to "roam various residential neighborhoods and break into parked cars to steal personal property from the cars," Brunner's plea agreement says.
The men also reportedly knew they would be unable to take another Metro train back to East St. Louis since the trains had stopped running after their arrival in Clayton.
"The group intended to take a car from the neighborhood, so they could get back to East St. Louis," the plea agreements further say.
Jackson and Seawood were both armed with handguns, and reportedly intended to use those handguns if needed to steal a car.
"The four men decided to take (the Clayton woman's) car" by force, the plea agreements say.
Seawood reportedly went up to the woman's passenger side window, while Jackson went to the driver's side window.
"The men displayed their handguns and began shouting at (the woman) to open her doors," the plea agreements say. "The two men began tapping on the car windows with their handguns and counting backwards as if something was going to happen to (her) if she didn't open her door."
When the woman, who federal authorities say was afraid for her life, opened her door, Jackson reportedly grabbed her arm, yanked her out of the car and threw her on the ground.
Jackson reportedly got in the driver's seat, and the other three men got in the car, and they drove away.
The car stolen in this crime, Sorrell said, was used to commit the firearms theft in Butler County.
The four will be sentenced for this crime, as well as the firearms theft, said Sorrell.
Brunner's sentencing is set for May 15, while Howard will be sentenced on June 12.
Jackson will be sentenced on May 29, Sorrell said.
At that time, Jackson also will face sentencing on a second carjacking charge.
With his plea, Jackson admitted on April 23, 2017, after dark, a woman was walking between her car and an apartment building in St. Louis.
"She was accosted by Norlando Jackson, who pointed a pistol at her and demanded her car," according to Jackson's plea agreement. "Jackson was with two other men, Arlandus Howard and Antywan Seawood."
The woman reportedly gave Jackson a set of keys and ran to the door.
"When Jackson and the other men found that they had been given the wrong set of keys, they ran back to (the woman), knocked her to the ground, assaulted her and took her car keys," the agreement further says.
Jackson and the other two men reportedly then took the car.
Seawood will be the final defendant to be sentenced on July 31.
Sorrell said the maximum imprisonment for the theft of the firearms is 10 years and for carjacking is 15 years.
The maximum punishment for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence is life, said Sorrell, who indicated the charge carries a minimum of seven years and any sentence must be served consecutively to any other sentence imposed against the defendant.