SANTA ANA, Calif.—A 32-year-old man has been sentenced to 29 years to life in prison for robbing a Secret Service agent in Tustin in June.
Jamonte Fitzgerald Johnson, 32, was found guilty on Oct. 28 of robbery and possession of a firearm by a felon, with jurors also confirming sentencing enhancements for the personal use of a firearm. He was credited with 155 days in jail.
Co-defendant Eshon Dwayne Dodson, 21, is set to be sentenced on Jan. 10. He was also convicted in the same trial of robbery with a sentencing enhancement for being armed with a gun during the robbery.
Bertran Claude Bell, 38, pleaded guilty in August to robbery with a sentencing enhancement for being armed with a gun during a felony and received a six-year prison sentence. He accepted a plea deal from Orange County Superior Court Judge William Scott Zidbeck.
Bell has a previous conviction for attempted robbery in December 2004.
Tustin police were called to Stratus Lane and West Wind Drive around 9:35 p.m. on June 15 following reports of six gunshots, according to court documents.
When officers arrived, the victim identified himself as a Secret Service agent and pointed out a gun that one of the suspects dropped, prosecutors stated.
The agent explained to the police that he was driving his department-issued vehicle home in Tustin after working at a fundraiser for President Joe Biden in Los Angeles, attended by former President Barack Obama.
Upon arriving home around 9:30 p.m., the agent was confronted by robbers as he approached his front door, prosecutors said. A car pulled up, one of the suspects exited, ran over to the victim, and at gunpoint demanded, “Give me your bag,” referring to a laptop computer he was carrying.
The agent instructed the suspects to exit the vehicle, but they did not comply, prosecutors added. When a second suspect got out of the car, the agent fired seven rounds toward the vehicle out of fear that the suspect was armed.
The suspects fled with the agent’s cell phone, radio, radio holster, lapel pins, flashlight, gun magazines, and other items.
Police were able to track the suspects using an iPhone feature and located the phone at Jamboree and Walnut Avenue, prosecutors revealed. Investigators also found other items such as the radio and flashlight nearby.
Authorities obtained a DNA match from the dropped gun that linked Johnson to the robbery, prosecutors alleged.
Dodson was driving the vehicle while Johnson was a front-seat passenger who exited the car and robbed the agent, according to Tustin Police Sgt. Ryan Newton. The agent managed to draw his service revolver and fire at Bell, who “was apparently struck by the victim’s gunfire.”
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