Twenty years in prison is the sentence for one of four defendants convicted of participating in a robbery spree targeting auto parts stores in the Twin Cities, holding up the retailers at gunpoint and bounding employees with zip ties.
Tony L. Reed, 33, of Memphis, was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Minneapolis after jurors convicted him nearly four months earlier on six robbery counts in connection with increasingly frequent holdups over five-plus months in 2017.
"Today's sentence is an appropriate and just response to Mr. Reed's callous criminal acts," U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald said in a statement.
Prosecutors also alleged ahead of sentencing that Reed committed five other robberies "using a similar if not identical modus operandi," with four in Chicago and in Holly Springs, Miss., less than two weeks after the last of the Twin Cities heists, according to a presentencing court filing.
In that same filing, the prosecution pointed out the fear the employees experienced being robbed, including two who had to quit because they didn't feel safe at their workplace anymore, and another who recalled to the jury how he grew increasingly afraid as Reed threatened him with a gun as the time-delayed safe could not be opened immediately.
Along with his prison time, Reed's sentence includes three years of supervised release and an order to pay more than $11,500 in restitution.
Guilty pleas were entered earlier by co-defendants Orlando L. Harris, 35, of Minneapolis; Derf R.R. Reed, 46, of Chicago; and Tyrell D. Campbell, 24, of Minneapolis. Harris was sentenced to slightly more than three years in prison, and Derf Reed was given a sentence of roughly 3½ years in prison. Campbell's sentencing is pending.
The largest sum noted in prosecution's case against Tony Reed was about $4,600, taken during the robbery of an O'Reilly Auto Parts in Crystal.
