NORFOLK, Va. — A man and a woman from Norfolk who went on a six-week spree of armed robberies throughout Hampton Roads have been convicted by a federal jury.
According to a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Norfolk, the couple, 36-year-old Brandon D. Chavis and 43-year-old Melissa E. Beasley, committed the robberies between October 1, 2021, and November 15, 2021, in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Newport News, Yorktown, and Portsmouth.
They robbed 7-Elevens, Subway Sandwich Shops, and gas stations.
As laid out in the case description, Beasley drove Chavis to each robbery in her gray Volvo SUV. Chavis -- wearing a black hoodie, black mask, black gloves, dark jeans, brown work boots, and sometimes an orange reflective vest -- would enter the stores, point a gun at the clerks, take whatever the clerks gave him, then jump in the waiting getaway vehicle with Beasley driving and flee the scene.
The spokesperson said that after one of these robberies, Beasley cashed one of the stolen lottery tickets just 33 minutes after Chavis stole it from a Speedway.
Norfolk Police had what was only described as an "interaction" with Chavis and Beasley on November 15, 2021, during which they found the gun Chavis had used in the robberies. They also seized Beasley’s SUV.
The spokesperson said Chavis and Beasley will be sentenced on September 27, at which point a federal district court judge will determine their sentences "after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors."
They said this case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.
