Stephon Harrigan, 31, has received a heavy sentence of 210 months in prison for a string of armed robberies that terrorized commercial businesses across the District and suburban Maryland in early 2022, unleashing waves of fear among employees and customers alike. The sentencing, officiated by U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton in Washington D.C., closes a chapter on a series of crimes that included hold-ups at gas stations, convenience stores, fast-food joints, check cashing outlets, and liquor stores, the U.S. Attorney's Office reports. Harrigan, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to interfere with interstate commerce by robbery and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence back in March, was part of a spree that reportedly involved approximately 36 incidents of armed threats and theft.
Alongside Harrigan's conviction, his younger brother Aaron Harrigan, 28, was previously sentenced to 87 months in prison for his role in four of the robberies after pleading guilty on October 3, 2023, while co-defendant Tavarus Thompson also entered a guilty plea on March 29, and awaits sentencing, as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office. A detail not to be overlooked is the manner in which Stephon Harrigan's crime spree unraveled its final act; on March 6, 2022, law enforcement stopped a stolen car, the occupants fled, and in a desperate bid for escape, Harrigan carjacked a woman's vehicle, leading to a collision with an MPD vehicle which culminated in his arrest.
The systematic and relentless nature of these armed robberies between January and March 2022 speaks to both the boldness and the recklessness that these individuals embodied, as they moved from one establishment to another wielding firearms, pressuring individuals to hand over personal and business assets. As obtained by the U.S. Attorney's Office, the criminal enterprise, which ensnared both Stephon Harrigan and Tavarus Thompson, not to mention occasionally other accomplices, systematically worked their way through around 34 businesses, leaving a trail of trauma and stolen property in their wake.
The coordinated efforts of law enforcement agencies including the FBI's Washington Field Office's Violent Crime Task Force and the Metropolitan Police Department's Carjacking Task Force, along with substantial support from the FBI's Columbia, South Carolina Field Office, and police departments in Mount Rainier, Prince George’s County, and Montgomery County, Maryland, were instrumental in bringing the perpetrators to justice. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Solomon Eppel, Matthew Kinskey, Andrea Duvall, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel Fletcher primarily spearheaded the case's prosecution which has proffered a measure of closure to a serial ordeal that disrupted the lives of many in the district and beyond.
