Four individuals have been sentenced relating to a violent robbery that shook a Hopkins grocery store over a year ago. Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick announced the sentences following guilty pleas to a Hobbs Act Robbery charge from all defendants involved in the February 2024 incident at U.S. Grocery and Tobacco, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Minnesota. The fourth and final sentencing concluded with Katrice Rene Sanders receiving a 34-month term in federal prison.
The case, which included the armed assault of store employees and a pistol-whipping of the manager, was a planned offense involving both insider information and external aid. Court documents describe how over two weeks, prior to the robbery, the group hatched their plan. Kynesha Jhaunae Jones, a store employee, provided crucial inside information about the store's operations. As per a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, "Jones worked at the store and provided details about the store layout and how cash was handled."
On the night in question, Darius and Ryan Elam, both 30 at the time, entered the store armed and ready to forcibly take what they needed. Binding three employees with duct tape, they managed to extract the code from the safe and subsequently escaped with $45,000. Sanders, who owned the getaway vehicle, was the last to receive her sentence for the role she played in abetting the crime.
Sentences varied among the defendants. Darius Elam was handed the longest sentence at 112 months; his twin brother, Ryan, will serve 109 months. Jones, on account of her inside participation, was sentenced to 32 months in prison. The collaborative effort to bring the perpetrators to justice was the result of work by the FBI and Hopkins Police Department, with Assistant U.S. Attorney William C. Mattessich leading the prosecution. As stated in the U.S. Attorney's Office press release, "Each defendant pleaded guilty to one count of Hobbs Act Robbery, and all were sentenced by Judge Donovan W. Frank."
