A 21-year-old man who pleaded guilty to a spree of follow-home armed robberies in Southern California was sentenced Friday to 10 years in federal prison, and his co-defendant pleaded guilty.
Elijah Isaiah Potts of South Los Angeles pleaded guilty in December to a count of interference with commerce by robbery. Federal prosecutors have requested $36,109.75 in restitution, but U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb will schedule a hearing on that later.
Also, Devin Matthew Thomas, 19, of South Los Angeles, pleaded guilty to a count of interference with commerce by robbery and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 12.
“Over six harrowing weeks, (Potts) and his robbery crew hunted for victims at shopping centers, stalked them to their homes and robbed them at gunpoint outside those homes,” prosecutors said in a sentencing brief. “Defendant’s crimes not only invaded the sanctity of the victims’ homes but irreparably scarred their everyday activities. When an elderly would-be victim inadvertently thwarted a robbery by pulling into a closed garage, the conspirators instead tried to carjack a neighbor, again at gunpoint.”
Prosecutors added that Potts repeatedly “displayed a total disregard for human life. By some miracle, no one was killed.”
Prosecutors argued for 135 months in prison.
The string of robberies happened on Sept. 3, Sept. 4, twice on Sept. 10 and Sept. 19, prosecutors said.
Potts robbed a victim of a Rolex worth $20,000 on Sept. 3 “within feet of a 10-month-old baby and pointed at the victim’s wife and 4-year-old daughter, who were feet away,” prosecutors said.
Potts went on the robbery spree “less than five months after being sentenced for another vicious robbery and serving a probationary term with a three-year prison term suspended,” prosecutors said. “The slap on the wrist he received emboldened him. Defendant chose to victimize and risk the lives of innocent people with small and even special-needs children outside the safety of their homes.”
The two were part of armed robberies in Norwalk, Sherman Oaks, Bellflower, Glendale, Valley Village and Artesia and an attempted armed carjacking in Newport Beach, between Aug. 31 and Sept. 19.