WASHINGTON – Daniel Evans, 21, also known as Daniel Jervan Shaw, pled guilty today to a federal charge stemming from a pair of broad daylight robberies carried out within a period of minutes last year at local pharmacies.

            The plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, Nancy McNamara, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Evans, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to a charge of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act). The charge carries a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison and potential financial penalties. Under federal sentencing guidelines, he faces an estimated range of 63 to 78 months in prison. The plea agreement also calls for Evans to pay a $4,161 forfeiture money judgment. The Honorable Amy Berman Jackson scheduled sentencing for June 14, 2019.

            According to the government’s evidence, the first robbery took place at about 11:15 a.m. on March 18, 2018. That morning, three heavily-disguised assailants – wearing gloves and surgical-style masks – entered a CVS in the 9500 block of Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring, Md. The three went behind the pharmacy counter and demanded Percocet and Promethazine, ordering the pharmacist to open the safe. When the pharmacist did not comply, one of the assailants stunned him with a stun gun, causing him to lose consciousness. Unable to get into the safe, the three took some products from off the shelves and fled the scene.

            The second robbery occurred at about 12:30 p.m., on the same date. This time, four heavily-disguised assailants – wearing masks – entered the Rite Aid in the 5600 block of Georgia Avenue NW in the District of Columbia. One remained at the entrance and brandished a stun gun at customers. The others went behind the pharmacy counter and demanded Percocet, ordering the pharmacist to open the safe. The pharmacist complied and the intruders fled the scene, taking pharmaceutical products, including Oxycodone and Hydrocodone, with them.

            At about 1:35 p.m., a witness called 911 to report seeing an individual get out of a car and throw a bag over the side of the Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge and into the Anacostia River. MPD’s harbor unit found the bag as well as another bag inside it. The bags contained empty pharmaceutical pill bottles, discarded latex gloves and surgical-style masks. An employee from Rite Aid identified some of the bottles as having been stolen from the store that day.

            Based on descriptions provided of the car seen at the bridge, MPD officers subsequently identified Evans as the vehicle’s likely owner and executed a search warrant at his residence in Southeast Washington on March 20, 2018. A search of the defendant’s bedroom uncovered a backpack containing $4,161, a hollowed-out VCR containing 12 rounds of ammunition, and plastic bags containing more than 600 tablets of Oxycodone and Hydrocodone. Evans was arrested and has remained in custody ever since. In his guilty plea, Evans acknowledged that he was part of the group that conspired to commit the robberies. No one else has been arrested in the case, and the investigation is continuing.

            At the time of the robberies, Evans was on probation for conspiracy to rob a pharmacy in Maryland.

            In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Liu, Assistant Director in Charge McNamara, and Chief Newsham commended the work of those who investigated the case from the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the Metropolitan Police Department. They also expressed appreciation for the work of those who handled the case at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Carroll, Paralegal Specialist Catherine O’Neal, and Legal Assistant Peter Gaboton. Finally, they commended the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney C.B. Buente, who prosecuted the case.