Fayetteville Man Sentenced for Car Jacking & Man and Woman Also Sentenced for Bank Fraud

U.S. Attorney’s Office
Eastern District of North Carolina
11 April 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GREENVILLE – The United States Attorney’s Office announced that today in Federal court, Senior United States District Judge Malcolm J. Howard sentenced BOBBY DESHAWN BAILEY, 22, of Fayetteville, North Carolina to 144 months imprisonment, followed by 5 years of supervised release. Also sentenced was ERICKA ANDREA MONIQUE JOHNSON, 22, of Shannon, North Carolina to 14 months imprisonment, followed by 5 years of supervised release.

BAILEY was named in an Indictment on September 7, 2016 charging him with Carjacking and Brandishing a Firearm During and In Relation To a Crime of Violence, and he pled guilty to those charges on February 13, 2017.

On January 5, 2015, an ex-boyfriend of ERICKA JOHNSON’s and his two sons, ages 8 and 14, exited their residence in St. Pauls, North Carolina, and walked towards their vehicle. As they did, BOBBY BAILEY (JOHNSON'S boyfriend at the time) and three other men, who were armed with handguns, approached the victims and yelled, "Police!"

BAILEY and the other men attempted to force the adult victim back into his residence; however, the door was locked. The victim’s girlfriend was inside the residence, but she refused to unlock the door. BAILEY and the others forced the ex-boyfriend and his children into the ex-boyfriend’s vehicle. The ex-boyfriend was bound with his own shoelaces, and he was repeatedly hit during the ordeal; his sons witnessed the abuse.

The victims were driven around the area while the armed kidnappers demanded money from them. The men pointed firearms at the victims and threatened that the victims would be harmed or killed if the kidnappers’ demands were not met. The kidnappers used the ex-boyfriend’s cellular telephone to call his girlfriend to demand money. The kidnappers also used the victim’s phone to call a friend of the victim, and the kidnappers demanded $10,000.00. The victim’s friend was informed that the victim and his children were going to be killed if he did not "hurry up."

The victim and his children were eventually taken to a wooded area in Fayetteville. The victims escaped, and the kidnappers fled with the victims' cell phones and the vehicle.

BAILEY and JOHNSON were also charged in a separate Indictment filed on June 1, 2016. The indictment charged them with two counts of Bank Fraud and Aiding and Abetting, and the indictment charged JOHNSON with Access Device Fraud and Aiding and Abetting. BAILEY pled guilty to the Bank Fraud counts on August 8, 2016. JOHNSON pled guilty to the three charges she faced on January 12, 2017.

The fraud investigation revealed in December 2015, BAILEY and JOHNSON, along with several unindicted co-conspirators, perpetrated a scheme to defraud banks, including the United States Automobile Association Federal Savings Bank (USAA) and other banks.

To perpetuate the fraud scheme, BAILEY and JOHNSON deposited stolen or counterfeit checks into automatic teller machines (ATMs) located throughout North Carolina and Virginia. As soon as the stolen or counterfeit checks were deposited, BAILEY, JOHNSON, and others involved in the conspiracy would withdraw funds from an ATM, or they would attempt to obtain the money via debit purchases and “cash back” at stores. They also moved money between accounts in order to make the transfer more difficult to track and to circumvent USAA's maximum ATM withdrawal policy.

These cases were investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Department of the Treasury--Office of Inspector General, the Fayetteville Police Department, the St. Pauls Police Department, and the Hope Mills Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Lemmon is prosecuting the case on behalf of the government.