First of 3 brothers gets prison time in attempted burglaries

The first of three brothers from Spring Hill charged with smashing their way into gun dealerships on the first night of the George Floyd protests last summer is headed to federal prison.

U.S. District Judge W. Scott Hardy on Tuesday imposed a term of 18 months on Jerwahn Atkins, 24, of Buente Street, who most recently had been working as a dishwasher at a North Shore bar until he was laid off during the pandemic.

His two brothers, Jerquay and Jamir, will be sentenced later this week. Two accomplices, Haliston Este and Jasmine Greenlee, were also convicted in the case. Greenlee, the getaway driver, was the first among the five to plead guilty and Este the last, entering his plea last month. Both are awaiting sentencing.

The three brothers and the other two have all admitted they conspired to break into gun shops in Moon and Bethel Park during the protests in May 2020.

Federal agents said the group tried to break into Allegheny Arms in Bethel on the night of May 30 and National Armory in Moon in the early morning of May 31.

They didn’t manage to steal any guns in either incident.

But police said the breakins were part of a spree of burglaries at businesses throughout the region that night and the next morning while the region, like the rest of the country, was embroiled in the Floyd protests.

The gang first tried to use a crowbar to smash into Allegheny Arms but the alarm went off and scared them away. Jerquay and Jerwahn left in one vehicle and Jamir in another. Greenlee then drove Jamir and Jerwahn to National Armory, where they again tried to use a crowbar to smash their way in and again triggered an alarm.

The same group later broke into Verizon stores in Mt. Lebanon and Green Tree, according to police and the ATF.

After the second breakin, police saw one of the suspects jump out of a broken window and get into a car. Officers gave chase but lost the car.

Police pulled Greenlee over on June 1 and she told them that she, the Atkins brothers and Este had committed a string of burglaries.

Pittsburgh police and Allegheny County police arrested the Atkins brothers on June 5. They’ve been in custody since.

Jerwahn’s lawyer, Joseph Charlton, argued for a downward sentencing departure for his client, saying he grew up in tough circumstances without a father and wants to be a better father to his own two children.

“Mr. Atkins realizes that it was his actions and decisions that put him in the situation that he finds himself in, not the actions of anybody else nor the societal circumstances in which he found himself in at the time of the crimes,” Mr. Charlton wrote in a sentencing memo. “Mr. Atkins owns what he did and blames no one but himself.”

Jerwahn has been held in the lockup in Butler County since his arrest and said the experience has changed him.

He said in court papers that sitting there day after day “made me realize how stupid what I did was. I’m missing my kids grow up. ... I let people down. I’m not coming back here. ... I guarantee you that.”

He and Mr. Charlton asked for 14 months, but the judge declined and gave him 18. The judge also ordered him to pay $2,000 in restitution.

Judge Hardy will sentence Jerquay on Wednesday and Jamir on Thursday.