New Mexico residents Antoine Mitchell, Moses D. Dickens III, and Christopher Dominguez, were all sentenced in a Cheyenne federal court recently after pleading guilty to crimes related to a violent crime spree that included armed pharmacy robberies in Wyoming and New Mexico.

On October 6, 2016, the three men, disguised in ski masks, kidnapped a woman at gunpoint in Wheatland, Wyoming, and dropped her at a remote location west of Wheatland before driving her Ford Edge and their own car to the Medicap Pharmacy in Cheyenne, Wyoming. There, again disguised, they fired shots and demanded painkillers, including OxyContin and Oxycodone. After exchanging gunfire with the pharmacist, the robbers fled in the Ford Edge, abandoned it shortly thereafter, and left Wyoming in their own car.

Despite a detailed and thorough investigation by the Cheyenne Police Department, the crimes in Wyoming went unsolved until December 3, 2016, when Mitchell, Dickens, and Dominguez robbed another pharmacy at gunpoint in Raton, New Mexico, fleeing with OxyContin, Morphine, Promethazine, cough syrup, and Ketamine. After a high-speed chase with the Raton Police Department, the three men were apprehended and charged in federal court in New Mexico.

In a joint effort by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Wyoming, the Platte County Sheriff’s Office, the Wheatland Police Department, the Cheyenne Police Department, the Wyoming State Crime Laboratory, and with the courageous assistance of the victims in Wyoming, Mitchell, Dickens, and Dominguez were linked to their crimes in Wheatland and Cheyenne. They were charged in federal court in Wyoming.

Eventually, both the Wyoming and New Mexico cases were consolidated before Federal Judge Nancy D. Freudenthal in Wyoming. Pursuant to a plea agreement with the United States Attorney’s Offices in New Mexico and Wyoming, Dickens, Dominguez, and Mitchell all entered pleas related to the carjacking and pharmacy robberies. Mitchell and Dickens received sentences of 35 years in prison. Dominguez will serve 28 years.

"This case is an outstanding representation of how close cooperation between federal and local law enforcement agencies across two states can put violent criminals and drug dealers behind bars," said Wyoming U.S. Attorney Mark Klaassen. "It is a perfect example of the kind of case that our President, our Attorney General, and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Wyoming and New Mexico are targeting to reduce violent crime and address the opiate epidemic in our respective communities. Here, we combined the resources of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies and prosecutors’ offices across two states to find the most effective way to investigate and prosecute these violent actors, and to bring justice to the victims of violent crime, which is the mandate of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhood initiative. I also want to highlight in particular the courage or the victims of these crimes in Wyoming. Without their assistance, these criminals may never have been accountable for their violent crimes here."

"Today’s sentencing of Antione Mitchell and the recent sentencings of Moses Dickens III and Christopher Dominguez illustrate the FBI’s commitment to work with its law enforcement partners to address violent crime in our community," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Dean Phillips. "This investigation was truly a collaborative multi-state effort between local and federal law enforcement. The community is safer with these individuals behind bars. And we are confident Mitchell, Dickens, and Dominguez’s sentencings sends a message to those involved in acts of violence that they will be aggressively investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law."