LOS ANGELES — A convicted murderer dubbed “a walking crime spree” by prosecutors was sentenced Monday to 27 years in federal prison for robbing and attempting to rob nearly a dozen Los Angeles County businesses — including a veterinarian’s office — at gunpoint over five days while on parole from state prison for armed robbery.
Justin Washington, 34, of Gardena, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson, who also ordered him to pay $10,119 in restitution and fines, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Washington pleaded guilty in October to 10 counts of interference with commerce by robbery and one count of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.
In mid-September 2020, Washington was released from state prison from a 10-year term for armed robbery and possession of a deadly weapon. Less than two months after his release, federal prosecutors said Washington murdered a rival gang member. Then, from Nov. 30 to Dec. 4, 2020, Washington robbed and attempted to rob 10 businesses in the South Bay and in South Los Angeles, according to prosecutors.
According to papers filed in Los Angeles federal court, his robbery spree began at the same Gardena grocery store, which he robbed on consecutive days on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, 2020. From there, in Gardena, Washington robbed a 7-Eleven store, a donut shop and attempted to rob a veterinarian’s office, prosecutors said. He then robbed a donut shop in Torrance, and, in South Los Angeles, a wireless phone store, a dry cleaner business, two additional donut shops and, finally, a Baskin-Robbins ice cream store, according to court documents.
During his armed robbery of a Torrance donut shop on Dec. 2, 2020, Washington pointed a gun at and then struck a store employee in the head, causing bodily injury, prosecutors said. Washington then forced the victim to move to the shop’s back office to facilitate Washington’s search for money, then bound the victim’s hands, according to…
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