NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A man from Virginia Beach has pleaded guilty Tuesday to his role in a string of grocery store robberies.
According to court documents, 21-year-old Keonte K. Yorkshire, aka Tae, was a member of a six-man robbery quad that robbed three grocery stores in the region in the span of a week.
Yorkshire served as an inside look-out for one robbery and an outside look-out for two others. The armed robberies took place at a Food Lion in Chesapeake on Sept. 25, 2018, a Food Lion in Virginia Beach on Sept. 29, 2018, and a Harris Teeter in Virginia Beach on Oct. 3, 2018.
The teams of six included inside and outside look-outs, getaway drivers, and two gunmen. The robbers used police scanners to monitor law enforcement activity, encrypted applications, and earpieces to communicate with one another.
At each robbery, the gunmen demanded the managers open the grocery store safe. In the final robbery at a Harris Teeter in Virginia Beach, one of the gunmen shot the store manager.
Yorkshire pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit armed robbery, armed robbery and possessing a firearm during a crime of violence. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 17 years and a maximum sentence of life when he is sentenced on May 6.
In total, nine people were indicted for the grocery store robberies. Prosecutors also believe one suspect, Monica Perkins, may have tried to burn down her home with her five children still inside.
