FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 2, 2023

Defendant Robbed Three Businesses and a Post Office at Gunpoint Last Fall

            WASHINGTON – Mark Thomas Moore, 32, of the District of Columbia, is charged by indictment in a series of armed robberies he is alleged to have committed in the Fall of 2022.

            The indictment, filed yesterday in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Acting Special Agent in Charge David Geist, of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Criminal and Cyber Division, Damon Wood, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Washington Division, and Acting Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department.

            According to the government’s evidence, Moore robbed three commercial establishments and a U.S. Post Office, all in Southeast Washington, D.C., at gunpoint, between October 21, 2022, and November 22, 2022.  In addition, Moore held a store employee at gunpoint during one of the commercial robberies and robbed her of her cell phone. 

            Moore was arrested on November 28, 2022, following the robbery of a commercial establishment in Arlington, Virginia, and has been in custody ever since. 

            Moore fled the scene of the November 28 robbery on a distinct bicycle that was identical in appearance to the bicycle he used to flee the D.C. postal robbery.  After this link was established, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service was able to determine that Moore left a fingerprint inside the cash register drawer during the postal robbery.  In addition, a large BB gun and clothing recovered from Moore at the time of his arrest—and additional, unique clothing recovered during the search of a residence associated with Moore—further connects Moore to the string of armed robberies.

            The indictment charges Moore with three counts of interference with commerce by robbery (also known as “Hobbs Act” robbery), which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of armed postal robbery, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.   Under the D.C. Code, Moore is charged with one count of robbery while armed, and one count of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, each of which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison.  

            This case is being investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office’s Violent Crime Task Force, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Washington Division, and the Metropolitan Police Department’s Carjacking Task Force. Valuable assistance was provided by the Arlington County Police Department.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul V. Courtney of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

            An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.