Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Armed Robber Sentenced to Over 10 Years in Prison for Participating in the Planning and Execution of Two Home Invasion Robberies

BALTIMORE—U.S. District Judge Benson E. Legg sentenced Antowan Bell, age 25, of Rosedale, Maryland, today to 130 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiring to commit a series of armed commercial robberies and using a firearm during a crime of violence. Judge Legg also ordered that Bell pay restitution of $140,000.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III of the Baltimore City Police Department; Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department; Baltimore City State’s Attorney Gregg Bernstein; and Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger.

According to Bell’s plea agreement, Bell was part of a conspiracy with co-defendants Nikolaos Mamalis, Daniel Chase, George Laloudakis, Evangelos Tsoukatos, and others to steal the proceeds of commercial businesses along with the cash and personal property of the owners of those businesses.

Bell admitted that on September 29, 2009, he and his co-conspirators planned to rob the owner of a restaurant on
North Point Boulevard
in Baltimore. Mamalis knew the owner from prior business dealings and had suddenly started coming to the restaurant regularly in the weeks before the robbery. On the day of the robbery, Tsoukatos drove to the area of the restaurant to confirm that the owner had left for the day. Bell and Chase drove to the owner’s home, where Chase gained entry to the home by identifying himself as an investigator with the State’s Attorney’s office, displaying a fake badge that he had manufactured. Once inside the house, Chase pulled a gun from a briefcase and handcuffed the victim to a kitchen chair. Bell then entered the home and demanded to know the location of the victim’s safe. The victim denied having a safe, but told the robbers there was money from the restaurant in a kitchen drawer. Chase took approximately $10,000 from the drawer in the kitchen. Bell and Chase rummaged through the house, eventually locating the safe in the basement. They forced the victim to the basement at gunpoint and demanded the combination to the safe, threatening to cut off the victim’s finger if he refused. Bell and Chase took approximately $150,000 from the safe, which included profits from the Sparrows Point Restaurant, and left the victim bound and physically restrained.

On November 8, 2009, Mamalis and Bell drove to Atlantic City where they met Chase at a café to plan a robbery. The three were arrested as they left the café. Investigators searched Chase’s car and seized a briefcase that contained mace, rope, rubber gloves, three sets of handcuffs, three empty money bags, a knife, tape, and a fake badge purporting to be identification for “John Peters” of the “Office of the Attorney General, Major Crimes Division” for the State of New Jersey, bearing a photograph of Chase.

Mamalis, age 54, of Edgewood, Maryland was convicted on February 3, 2011, of conspiring to commit a series of armed commercial and home robberies between July and November 2009; armed robbery. and brandishing a gun during a crime of violence. Daniel Chase, age 65, of Browns Mill, New Jersey; George Laloudakis, age 49, of Baltimore; and Evangelos Tsoukatos, age 48, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, pleaded guilty to their participation in the robberies. Judge Legg has scheduled sentencing for Chase on March 24, 2011; for Laloudakis on April 21, 2011; for Mamalis on May 10, 2011 at ; and for Tsoukatos for May 13, 2011.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked: the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore City Police Department, Baltimore County Police Department, New Jersey State Police, the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office, and the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in this investigation and prosecution. Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant United States Attorneys Debra L. Dwyer and Thiru Vignarajah, who prosecuted the case.

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