VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Two men were just found guilty of being involved in a string of local robberies.
Part of the evidence against the men was selfies of the suspects wearing ski masks and holding guns.
The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (which falls under the Department of Justice) said Harold Spencer and Jon Morgan, both 32, were caught on March 18 after a police chase.
The DOJ said a group of five people had tried to rob a Tiger Mart gas station in Virginia Beach, and a police officer started chasing them. The officer's dashboard camera shows people throwing weapons out of the windows of a rental car.
"Only after spike strips were deployed multiple times, did the car finally come to a stop," they wrote.
Police found ski masks and gloves in the car. The DOJ said their clothes and shoes also matched surveillance videos of six prior robberies.
The DOJ said Spencer shot at a fleeing customer in the second of those robberies.
The group stole cash, cigarettes and lottery tickets. When they tried to cash those tickets in, it set off an alert.
Spencer's minimum sentence is 31 years, and Morgan's maximum sentence is 40 years. They'll learn how long they'll spend in jail at a court date on June 2, 2023.
Kareem Ross, Marvin Lockhart and Roshaun Griffin, all in their 30s, pleaded guilty to their roles in the string of robberies earlier this year. They'll be sentenced in February and March 2023.
