A Kansas City man who held up convenience store after convenience store at gunpoint over the span of two months has been sentenced to 28 years in federal prison without parole. Marquise L. North, 32, pointed a firearm at 21 different victims during the spree, which authorities say ran from late July through late September of 2024.
North pleaded guilty in March to 14 counts of Hobbs Act robbery, one count of attempted Hobbs Act robbery, and two counts of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, according to KMBC. As KCTV5 reported, North robbed 15 different convenience stores and brandished a firearm each time he walked in, demanding money from the people working behind the counter.
There's a discrepancy in how the case has been described. KMBC's report on North's indictment characterized the case as 14 alleged convenience-store robberies plus one attempted robbery, while the station's sentencing coverage describes robberies at 15 convenience stores between July 26 and Sept. 21, 2024. The federal charges themselves, per KMBC, match that same count split: 14 completed Hobbs Act robberies and one attempted robbery.
A Tracker Hidden in the Cash Drawer Cracked the Case
Investigators caught up to North because of a mistake made during his final robbery. Police made the bust after an active cash tracker was found in a cash drawer North took from that last stickup, the station's report notes, allowing officers to trace his location.
Kansas City police located North's vehicle and tried to stop him, but he refused to pull over, per the same account. The pursuit ended only after officers deployed stop sticks, flattening his tires and forcing him to abandon the car and run on foot. He was arrested after a brief chase, according to KCTV5's reporting on the case.
Discarded Evidence and a Citizen's Discovery
Investigators searched the area where the chase happened and recovered items North had thrown from his car as he fled, according to KCTV5. Police separately located the firearm North used throughout the robberies, with KCTV5 reporting that a citizen found the weapon and that UMKC officers recovered it.
Federal Robbery Statute Carries Steep Penalties
The Hobbs Act, the federal statute underpinning North's convictions, defines robbery as the unlawful taking of personal property from a person or in that person's presence, against that person's will, through actual or threatened force, violence or fear of injury, according to the Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. Code. Brandishing a firearm during such crimes brings additional mandatory prison time on top of the underlying robbery charges.
North's 28-year term echoes other recent federal cases built on the same statute. A Fort Myers man was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery and for possessing a firearm in a crime of violence, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, Middle District of Florida. In a separate Kansas City case, a man was sentenced to 45 years for a conspiracy involving nine armed robberies of local businesses and another armed robbery in which a convenience-store employee was beaten and fatally shot, per the FBI, Kansas City Field Office.
With North's sentence now handed down, the nearly two months of fear he inflicted on convenience-store workers across Kansas City has reached its legal conclusion. He will serve the full 28 years without the possibility of parole.
