Three Charged for Armed Robbery of Cell Phone Stores

Three Philadelphia man working either together or on their own are responsible for five armed robberies of cell phone stores between October and April, according to federal prosecutors.

An indictment filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania charges Darryl Alston, 39, Rynell Bennett, 34, and Chamir Isiaiah Lewis, 21, in robbing Verizon Wireless stores of nearly $80,000 in expensive cell phones and splitting the proceeds.

According to court documents, Alston has been charged with participating in all five robberies, including:

• Oct. 11, 2014, on the 400 block of West Germantown Pike in Plymouth Meeting
• Jan. 20, 2015, on the 600 block of West Chester Pike in Haverford
• Jan. 21, 2015, on the 300 block of Spring Garden Street in Philadelphia
• Jan. 27, 2015, on the 1600 block of Clements Bridge Road in Deptford, N.J.
• April 13, 2015, on the 300 block of South Street in Philadelphia

Bennett has been charged with one robbery, in Plymouth Meeting, and Lewis is charged with three, in Haverford, on Spring Garden Street and in Deptford, N.J.

According to court documents, the three defendants robbed the stores by first researching the businesses over the Internet.

On the days of the alleged robberies, they entered the businesses wearing dark clothing, gloves, scarf, ski mask, baseball hats, and a hooded sweatshirt to conceal their identities and used a firearm and a BB handgun to terrorize the owners and employees of the businesses.

The defendants allegedly tied the victims’ hands with duct tape and rope and stole approximately $78,906 in cellular phones. Alston and Bennett are also both charged with using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence and felon in possession of a firearm.

If convicted of all charges, Alston and Bennett each face a minimum mandatory sentence of seven years in prison, in addition to an advisory sentencing guideline range of 188 to 235 months for Alston, and 360 months to life imprisonment for Bennett. Lewis faces a sentence ranging between 151 and 188 months imprisonment.