Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell (R) announced Monday that four individuals responsible for the 2022 armed robbery of an Arizona jewelry store had been sentenced to prison.
“The victims in this case lived through terrifying moments as they feared for their lives at the hands of criminals,” said Mitchell. “Our office was relentless in the pursuit of justice for those nine individuals inside the store; the money and jewelry taken were recovered.”
According to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO), the four men being sentenced are Gary Freeny, 27; Monta Harris, 26; Deandre Haven, 28; and Kenneth Walton Jr., 40. All four men pled guilty to one count of burglary and one count of armed robbery and received 10.5, 11.25, seven, and eight years in prison, respectively.
A spokesperson for the MCAO told The Arizona Sun Times via the phone that the four men got varied sentences because of prior criminal history.
According to court documents shared with The Sun Times, the original incident occurred on March 16th, 2022, in the evening. The four men entered a Jared Jewelry store in Glendale wearing ski masks and ordered everyone to lie on the ground. Walton had a stun gun, and Harris brandished a handgun. Haven restricted the employees with zip-ties, and Harris pointed his gun at them while the other three began stealing customers’ phones, wallets, and car keys. Haven then ordered one of the employees to open a safe while pressing the gun to her head before smashing the display boxes and putting the valuables in pillowcases. The group collected over $1.5 million in stolen property.
However, one of the employees contacted the police, who arrived at the scene two minutes after the call. The men were still in the act of robbing the store and fled the location. The crooks dropped their bags of stolen items while running but were eventually caught one by one using traffic camera footage. They were also positively identified by the victims later on.
In subsequent interviews, Walton stated that he hardly knew the other defendants but admitted they had been planning the robbery for a day. He claimed a fentanyl addiction pushed him to go through with the crime.
Moreover, Harris claimed he lived in California and was in Arizona to visit family. He told authorities he had only recently met the other men and “made a bad decision” because he needed money. Freeny and Walton had a residence in Arizona, but Haven was homeless at the time, according to the court documents.
The MACO spokesperson confirmed that there are no probation or supervision requirements once jail time is completed.
According to Arizona Crime Statistics, there have been 197 robberies reported in Arizona so far in 2023. The group’s Glendale robbery was one of 4,968 burglaries from 2022. Robberies have gradually fallen in Arizona since 2017 when 7,339 incidents were reported.
Additionally, Mitchell and the MCAO recently held a fentanyl education forum to show high school students and families the dangers of the drug and how addiction can affect people.
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Neil Jones is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Neil on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Rachell Mitchell” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 3.0. Background Photo “Courtroom” by Carol M. Highsmith.
