Getaway Driver In McDonald's Robbery Sentenced To Three Years In Prison

U.S. Attorney’s Office
Western District of New York
12 June 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX #: (716) 551-3051

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Juwan Baldwin, 27, of Rochester, NY, who was convicted of one count of Hobbs Act Robbery, was sentenced to serve 36 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford for his role in the December 28, 2018, robbery of a local McDonald’s restaurant.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean C. Eldridge, who handled the case, stated that in the early morning hours of December 28, 2018, the defendant drove co-defendants Malik Lott and Lavon Wims to the McDonald’s restaurant at 1701 East Avenue in Rochester, knowing that Lott and Wims were going to rob the restaurant. Baldwin stayed in the car while Lott and Wims entered the restaurant where Wims held a knife to the throat of a McDonald’s employee. Wims then dragged the employee to the cash register and then to the safe, demanding money. At the same time, Lott displayed what appeared to be a handgun to another McDonald’s employee. Wims and Lott left McDonald’s with the stolen cash and were picked up by Baldwin, who drove them home.

Lavon Wims and Malik Lott were previously convicted and sentenced.

The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Violent Crimes Task Force, under the direction of Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Robert Guyton; the New York State Police, under the direction of Major Eric Laughton; and the Rochester Police Department, under the direction of Chief La’Ron Singletary.

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