[PR] District Man Pleads Guilty to Armed Robbery and Armed First Degree Burglary

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of Columbia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, March 4, 2020

WASHINGTON – Denzell Moore, 26, of Washington, D.C. pled guilty to a Hobbs Act robbery and a federal firearms charge stemming from an armed robbery of a CVS near American University in the Fall of 2017, as well as an armed first degree burglary of a Howard University student’s home that occurred in the Spring of 2012, announced U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Shea, and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Moore pled guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of Interference with Interstate Commerce by Robbery and one count of Using, Carrying, Possessing, and Brandishing a Firearm during a Crime of Violence for the October 25, 2017 CVS offense, and one count of D.C. Code First Degree Burglary While Armed for the May 16, 2012 offense.  He will be sentenced on May 15, 2020, by the Honorable Judge Tanya S. Chutkan and is facing between eleven and fifteen years of imprisonment.

            Moore was originally arrested in connection with the May 16, 2012, burglary after he forcibly entered the residence of a college student while wearing a black ski mask and carrying a gun. During a struggle in the residence between Moore and the victims, Moore shot two of the victims in the knee and foot. Moore left behind his black ski mask, yielding a DNA match.

            While on pretrial release for the 2012 burglary, Moore and two accomplices participated in the armed robbery of the CVS. At approximately 11:30 p.m. on October 25, 2017, Moore and two accomplices drove to a CVS located at 4555 Wisconsin Avenue, Northwest, Washington, D.C. near American University. Moore and one of his accomplices entered the store, brandished firearms, and ordered store employees to provide access to the store’s safe, obtaining approximately $4,300 in cash before escaping in their accomplice’s getaway car.  Within minutes, MPD officers who had responded to the 911 call from the store, observed the getaway car and attempted to pull it over.  The vehicle fled at a high rate of speed, before it ultimately came to a stop in Northwest, D.C. Before the car stopped, Moore jumped out and fled on foot, dropping a bag full of money and two firearms.

            In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Shea, and MPD Chief Newsham commended the work of those law enforcement officers who investigated the cases. They also cited the efforts of those who worked on the cases from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, including Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren B. Goddard, Melissa Jackson, Gregory Rosen, Jason McCullough, and William Woodruff. They also thanked Paralegal Specialists Teesha Tobias and Katie Thomas, as well as Legal Assistants Kate Abrey and Emma Atlas.