LOS ANGELES – A South Los Angeles man was sentenced today to 308 months in federal prison for committing the armed robbery of an armored truck in Hawthorne on St. Valentine’s Day in 2022, a heist in which more than $166,000 in cash and customer checks were stolen and a firearm was discharged after the truck’s driver was held on the ground at gunpoint.
Deneyvous Jayan Hobson, 39, of West Adams, was sentenced by United States District Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha, who also ordered him to pay $166,640 in restitution.
At the conclusion of a six-day trial in November 2024, a jury found Hobson guilty of one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act), one count of Hobbs Act robbery, one count of using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
On February 14, 2022, Hobson and co-defendant James Russell Davis, 37, also of West Adams, robbed a Sectran Security Services armored truck by ambushing the truck’s driver after the driver had finished servicing an ATM.
Three weeks prior to the robbery, Hobson and Davis cased the Wescom Credit Union in Hawthorne and observed a Sectran driver serving an ATM. During and before the robbery, Davis acted as a lookout and performed countersurveillance nearby.
On St. Valentine’s Day, at approximately the same time in the morning as their casing three weeks earlier, Hobson, traveling in a separate car from Davis, arrived at the credit union while the victim – identified in court documents as “J.G.” – was servicing the credit union’s ATMs.
Hobson and two other co-conspirators got out of their white Honda Accord, approached the victim, ordered him to the ground at gunpoint, and took J.G.’s service weapon, a .40-caliber handgun. Hobson and two co-conspirators stole approximately $166,640 in cash and checks from the Wescom Credit Union’s ATM. As Hobson and two accomplices returned to their car, one of the co-conspirators fired the 9mm semi-automatic handgun he was carrying. They then fled the scene.
The next day, Hobson attempted to sell for $800 via text the 9mm semi-automatic handgun he carried at the robbery, stating that the weapon was “not all the way bad it was just shot doing a get down,” according to court documents.
In October 2022, Hobson illegally possessed a 9mm pistol and 12 rounds of 9mm ammunition. Hobson was not permitted to possess the firearm or ammunition because his criminal history includes felony convictions in 2003 in Los Angeles Superior Court for robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.
Davis pleaded guilty in February 2024 to one count of Hobbs Act robbery and one count of discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. In June 2024, Judge Aenlle-Rocha sentenced Davis to 166 months in federal prison and ordered him to pay $166,640 in restitution to Sectran Security Services.
“The nature, circumstances, and seriousness of the offenses cannot be understated as [Hobson] violently robbed an innocent worker, forever changing that man’s life, and nearly killing him, all for money,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum.
The FBI, the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the Inglewood Police Department, and the Hawthorne Police Department investigated this matter.
Assistant United States Attorneys Kevin J. Butler and Jena A. MacCabe of the Major Crimes Section, and Jason C. Pang of the Transnational and Organized Crime Section prosecuted this case.
Contact
Ciaran McEvoy
Public Information Officer
ciaran.mcevoy@usdoj.gov
(213) 894-4465