U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang sentenced Ambrose Augustus Doye, age 25, of Washington, D.C., yesterday to 9 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for an armed commercial robbery and for brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur; Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; and Acting Chief Hector Velez of the Prince George’s County Police Department.
According to Doye’s guilty plea, on November 26, 2018, Doye and his co-defendant drove to a barbershop in Capitol Heights, Maryland, and spoke with two employees outside of the shop, pretending to be potential customers. The two left and went to a convenience store across the street, then returned to the barbershop. Doye sat in the barbershop chair while an employee prepared to cut his hair. He then drew a handgun and pointed it at the employee, while Bolton struck a second employee in the back of the head with a handgun.
As detailed in the plea agreement, Doye and Bolton then forced the employees to the back of the store and pulled the blinds down over the windows of the barbershop. They forced the employees to strip naked and lie face down on the floor with their hands behind their heads, and ordered them to count to 1,000. They robbed the employees of their cellphones, money, and jewelry. The robbers threatened to kill the employees if they moved while they counted to 1,000. They demanded to know where additional money was located in the store and threatened to kill the employees when they were unable to locate additional money. They again threatened to kill the employees if the robbery was reported, then left the barbershop with the personal belongings of the employees. A search of Doye’s residence recovered a distinctive silver necklace stolen from one of the barbershop employees and a loaded, silver and black .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
United States Attorney Robert K. Hur commended the FBI and the Prince George’s County Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Hur thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine K. Dick and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Hernandez, who are prosecuting the case.
