Hartford man sentenced to 9 years for string of robberies

A Hartford man was sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in a string of AT&T store robberies, including one that led Massachusetts State Police on a high-speed chase that ended with a police cruiser being struck, officials said.

Deshawn Baugh, 20, appeared in court in Bridgeport on Wednesday and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill to nine years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

He will also have to pay $124,842.45 in restitution to account for the amount stolen from a store in Canton, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

According to court records, Baugh joined a group of at least four others who committed several violent armed robberies targeting AT&T stores in Connecticut and Massachusetts, officials said.

Most of their attacks involved entering stores before they closed, pointing weapons at employees — or shoving or pistol-whipping them — and holding them at gunpoint in a back inventory room as they loaded large bags with cell phones and other electronics, officials said.

Baugh and his associates, Alex Josephs, Ronaldo Smith, Shaquille Raymond and getaway driver Saviana Bourne, stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in merchandise, court records show.

The group had allegedly struck two stores in Newington and Enfield in January and February 2021 before Baugh joined them. With Baugh, they robbed a store in Canton on April 15, 2021, and attempted to rob Torrington and Glastonbury stores that May but were locked out, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

On June 6, 2021, Baugh and the group targeted an AT&T store in West Springfield, Massachusetts, armed with a semiautomatic pistol, two revolvers and a semiautomatic rifle, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

They fled the scene with Bourne behind the wheel, leading police on a high-speed chase until they collided with a Massachusetts State Police cruiser, officials said.

All five were arrested following the crash and police found more than $150,000 in stolen merchandise in their vehicle along with firearms, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

Baugh has been in custody since the West Springfield robbery. He pleaded guilty in November to one count of Hobbs Act robbery and one count of brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, officials said.

Josephs, Smith, Raymond and Bourne have also pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing, records show.