Chicago-Area Man Sentenced To 10 Years And 10 Months For Traveling To Coldwater And Robbing Cell Phone Store

          GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN - U.S. District Judge Gordon J. Quist sentenced Tramain Hill to 130 months in federal prison for committing an interstate cell phone store robbery with three other people. Hill was also ordered to repay $42,129.44 in restitution and serve 3 years under court supervision following release from prison.

          On August 27, 2016, Hill and three associates met up in Kankakee, Illinois to prepare to rob a cell phone store. The crew had recently stolen a Mitsubishi Eclipse in Chicago, and they planned to use it as a getaway vehicle. On August 27, they loaded into the Eclipse and another car.

          At approximately 6:50 PM, two of the crew entered a Universal Wireless store at 849 E. Chicago Street in Coldwater, Michigan. After entering, one robber pulled a gun, pointed it at the three employees and one customer present, and herded everyone to a back room. Once in the back room, the other robber bound everyone’s wrists and ankles with zip ties, stole the property of the employees and customer, and proceeded to steal approximately $40,000 in cell phones from the store. The robbers stashed their proceeds in a black trash bag and exited through the back door of the store. The robbers then traveled back to central Illinois, where they sold the cell phones to a fence.

          To date, three of the four robbers have been prosecuted federally. Two of them are pending sentencing in the Central District of Illinois.

          The Coldwater Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated this case. Assistant United States Attorney Davin M. Reust prosecuted it.

END