Robber gets 42 years
Swissvale man was leader in holdups
Deron Howell of Swissvale, convicted of orchestrating the robbery last year of four professional video gamers in LincolnLemington and the robbery of a Cranberry pot dealer who ended up shot through the chest, will spend more than 42 years in federal prison.
U.S. District Judge Billy Ray Wilson on Monday imposed a term of 511 months, less than the 549 months the prosecution requested but more than the 30-year mandatory minimum his lawyer wanted.
“I look at all this time, and I’m terrified,” Howell, 26, told the judge as his family wept in the gallery. “I just want to tell my family that I’m sorry.”
His accomplice, Kahlil Shelton, 23, of Duquesne, was sentenced to 16 years for his role as one of the gunmen in the Cranberry holdup.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Lanni said both men are menaces. Last week, he asked for a 511-month sentence, but on Monday increased it to 548 months — nearly 46 years — because of what he said was Howell’s leadership role in the robberies.
In the Cranberry case, in which Howell and Shelton arranged to rip off 6 pounds of marijuana from drug dealer Octavio Marinello, an unknown accomplice shot him. UPMC surgeons saved his life, and Mr. Lanni said only their good medical work is what prevented the case from being a homicide.
“It’s a godsend that nobody died in this case,” he said.
Howell and Shelton were convicted at trial in May on multiple gun and robbery counts. Marinello, who is still suffering from his wounds, was also prosecuted federally and pleaded guilty to carrying a gun during a drug deal. He’s awaiting sentencing.
Mr. Lanni said Howell was the brains behind both robberies and used Shelton and other accomplices as his armed muscle.
In July 2017, Howell arranged to rob four video gamers in town for a tournament, including Marcus Carr, a former starting point guard for the University of Pittsburgh basketball team and at one point a top-ranked player of Madden NFL and NBA2K games. Howell was friends with one of the other gamers, and in May, when several were in town for a tournament, had driven them to their hotel in Moon.
This time he set them up to be robbed by two men with AK-47s.
Howell picked them up at the airport and drove them to Lincoln-Lemington. He pulled into an alley and locked them in the car. His two gunmen emerged with rifles and pulled the gamers from the car while Howell robbed them of $6,700.
The gunmen have not been identified.
About a week later, on Aug. 7, Howell and Shelton arranged to buy pot from Marinello at his house on Marshall Road. Although Shelton’s lawyer tried to minimize his role by saying Howell was the leader and Shelton was “along for the ride more than anything else,” Mr. Lanni said Shelton had visited Marinello a few days earlier to case his house and help plan the robbery.
After Howell, Shelton and an unknown third man arrived, Shelton excused himself to go to the bathroom. He came out with a gun and pressed it to the heads of the victims. The accomplice also held them at gunpoint. Among the victims in the house was a 6-year-old.
Howell then stole the 6 pounds of marijuana.
When Marinello decided to fight, the accomplice shot him twice.
Both cases were initially handled by local authorities and could have been prosecuted in state court. But the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives got involved, and the U.S. Attorney’s office took the cases in order to give both men much stiffer federal penalties than they would have received in Common Pleas court.
In his sentencing memo to the judge, Mr. Lanni said the stiff sentences are necessary to “reflect the terror and harm” Howell and Shelton caused their victims.
Howell will be in his 60s when he gets out. Shelton will be in his 30s.