Man who robbed ATF informant at gunpoint gets more than 5 years

CLEVELAND — A Cleveland man who robbed a federal informant at gunpoint was sentenced Wednesday to more than five years in prison.

Kevin Jefferson, 25, and three others attacked the informant, who was working with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. ATF agents at the time were conducting an undercover investigation into illegal gun sales in Cleveland.

U.S. District Judge Bridget Brennan sentenced Jefferson to five years and three months in prison. She also placed him on three years of post-prison supervision and ordered him to pay the ATF $649.99 for what he and a co-defendant stole.

“I’m sorry for the decision I made,” Jefferson said. “If I could go back, I wouldn’t do it. That’s not the man that I am. That’s not the man I want to be.

Jefferson previously pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the robbery of U.S. property. He did not know the person he robbed was an informant, Brennan said.

Brennan praised Jefferson as an intelligent, hard worker who has earned 120 certificates from jail programs in the 11 months since his arrest. But the judge said she considered going above the highest sentence recommended in the plea agreement because of the “incredibly serious” nature of the crime.

“I can’t imagine what it was like for that informant to have guns pulled on him and hear threats of ‘getting popped,’” Brennan said. “That’s so unacceptable.”

Jefferson’s attorney, Marisa Serrat, said the robbery happened very quickly and that he showed “genuine remorse.” She argued for a sentence of four years and three months.

“He’s very smart and capable of doing great things upon his release,” Serrat said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Zarzycki argued for the 63-month sentence because of what he said was the “egregious” and “dangerous crime of robbing an informant.

Jefferson and another man, Jesse Varner, were charged in the case in federal court in Cleveland. Varner, the target of the investigation, previously pleaded guilty to gun trafficking and his role in the robbery.

Varner’s plea agreement calls for a sentence of eight years and three months. Brennan will sentence him Nov. 28.

One other person has not been identified by investigators. A third was arrested but not charged.

The robbery happened Aug. 1, 2022, as ATF agents sat a short distance away, monitoring what had been a planned ATF purchase of guns outside a store.

The informant carried an ATF-issued cellphone equipped with a recording device and $800 in ATF money. He walked up to Jefferson’s mother’s SUV, which he was driving.

Jefferson insisted the informant get in the SUV, but the informant balked.

The unidentified man in the SUV got out and put a gun to the informant’s back. Jefferson jumped out of the car and pointed his gun at the informant, according to court records.

The duo took the informant’s cash and cellphone and sped away, followed by the undercover ATF agents, who asked Cleveland police for help.

Cleveland police tried to stop the SUV, but Jefferson slowed down enough to let the other three passengers out. Police arrested Varner and the man who was not charged by federal prosecutors.

Investigators later found Jefferson’s mother’s SUV and arrested Jefferson.

The ATF’s cell phone recorded the group talking about splitting up the money they stole, according to court records.