Four face charges in one-hour robbery spree
A federal grand jury has indicted three men and one woman in connection with the April 6 robberies of four Las Vegas convenience stores.
Delon Hunter, 18, of Henderson; William Bonaparte, 25, and Michael Hall, 26, both of Las Vegas; and Erica Bowden-Payne, 25, of North Las Vegas are accused of participating in what authorities have described as an unusual robbery scheme.
The indictment, returned Tuesday, alleges the defendants committed three robberies at Terrible Herbst stores and one at a City Stop. All four occurred in less than an hour.
In each robbery, authorities allege, Hunter pointed a handgun at Bonaparte, posing as a customer, and then threatened to shoot Bonaparte if the store employee did not turn over money and other items.
A Las Vegas police officer saw the last robbery in progress near Cheyenne Avenue and Buffalo Drive, and confronted the suspects as they were leaving the store.
The suspects fled in a vehicle and led officers on a high-speed chase before their vehicle came to a stop near Tenaya Way and Cheyenne Avenue.
Three suspects fled on foot and were apprehended nearby. The fourth suspect, Bowden-Payne, remained in the vehicle and was apprehended there.
The defendants face one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, one count of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, four counts of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, and four counts of interference with commerce by robbery. The defendants, who are in state custody, are scheduled to appear before a U.S. magistrate judge on April 27.
Las Vegas police and the FBI Safe Streets Task Force are investigating the case. It was screened through the Southern Nevada Project Safe Neighborhoods Task Force, a team of federal and local law enforcement officers and prosecutors who meet on a regular basis to discuss arrests involving guns and explosives.
Project Safe Neighborhoods is a Justice Department initiative to reduce gun and gang crime in the United States.
Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer
@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710.
