SANTA ANA, Calif.—A 32-year-old man was sentenced to 29 years to life in prison Friday for robbing a Secret Service agent in Tustin in June.
Jamonte Fitzgerald Johnson, 32, was convicted Oct. 28 of robbery and possession of a firearm by a felon, with jurors also finding true sentencing enhancements for the personal use of a firearm. He was given credit for 155 days in jail.
Co-defendant Eshon Dwayne Dodson, 21, is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 10. He was convicted in the same trial of robbery with a sentencing enhancement for being armed with a gun in the commission of a robbery.
Bertran Claude Bell, 38, pleaded guilty in August to robbery with a sentencing enhancement for being armed with a gun in the commission of a felony and was sentenced to six years in prison. He accepted a plea deal from Orange County Superior Court Judge William Scott Zidbeck.
Bell has a prior conviction for attempted robbery in December 2004.
Tustin police responded to Stratus Lane and West Wind Drive about 9:35 p.m. June 15 to reports of six gunshots, prosecutors said in court papers.
When officers arrived, the victim identified himself as a Secret Service agent and pointed to a gun that one of the suspects dropped, prosecutors said.
The agent told police he was driving his department-issued vehicle to his home in Tustin after working at a fundraiser for President Joe Biden in Los Angeles that former President Barack Obama attended.
When the agent got home about 9:30 p.m., he was confronted by robbers as he approached his front door, prosecutors said. A car pulled up, one of the suspects jumped out, ran over to the victim and at gunpoint demanded, “Give me your bag,” referring to a laptop computer he was carrying.
The agent demanded the suspects get out of the vehicle but they did not respond, prosecutors said. When a second suspect got out of the car, the agent fired seven rounds toward the vehicle because he feared the suspect was armed.
The suspects drove away with the agent’s cell phone, radio, radio holster, lapel pins, flashlight, gun magazines and other goods.
Police were able to use an iPhone feature to track the suspects, and found the phone at Jamboree and Walnut Avenue, prosecutors said. Investigators found other goods such as the radio and flashlight nearby.
Authorities were able to get a DNA match from the dropped gun linking Johnson to the robbery, prosecutors alleged.
Dodson was the driver and Johnson was a front-seat passenger who got out of the car and robbed the agent, Tustin Police Sgt. Ryan Newton said. The agent managed to draw his service revolver and fire at Bell, who “was apparently struck by the victim’s gunfire.”
