Nine members of an Oakland street gang known as Ghost Town have been sentenced to a combined total of nearly 60 years in federal prison for a series of armed robberies that terrorized small Bay Area businesses in 2022, federal prosecutors said.
U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín imposed the sentences, totaling 709 months, with the final defendant sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.
The defendants – Demarco Barnett, Jakari Jenkins, Danny Garcia, Garland Rabon, Aramiya Burrell, Lester Garnett, Darrin Hutchinson, Ricky Joseph and Keanna Smith-Stewart – all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce, prosecutors said. Eight also admitted to one or more substantive robbery counts tied to specific crimes.
Court records show the robberies were carefully planned and involved firearms, coordinated roles and violence against victims.
On March 18, 2022, several defendants robbed a coin and stamp store on the 10th floor of a South of Market building in San Francisco, prosecutors said.
Armed robbers confronted the owner and his son, zip-tied the son’s hands, struck him and fled with cash, jewelry and coins. Earlier charging documents estimated the loss at more than $300,000.
On Nov. 12, 2022, members of the group robbed a San Pablo jewelry store after some posed as customers to scout the location in advance, according to prosecutors. At least three robbers were armed, while others waited in getaway cars. Bags of jewelry were stolen.
The final robbery occurred Dec. 24, 2022, at an Oakland marijuana business. Prosecutors said the robbers forced an employee back inside at gunpoint, demanding “budded weed” and “money,” struck him in the head with a firearm and stole his debit card and marijuana trimmings. Smith-Stewart later used the stolen card to make purchases at San Francisco Centre stores, according to court filings.
Sentences ranged from 50 months to 114 months in prison. Judge Martínez-Olguín also ordered the defendants to pay $150,338 in restitution.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the Oakland Police Department and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office Violent Crime Strike Force, federal officials said.
This article originally published at Oakland gang members sentenced to nearly 60 years in federal prison.