Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Canal Winchester Man Charged with Robbing Victims at Gunpoint During Sales of Items Posted on Let Go, Craigslist
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Dezjuan O. Myers, 21, of Canal Winchester, Ohio, was arrested today and charged with interstate robbery, brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence and possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony.
Myers is scheduled to appear for arraignment at 2:30pm today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kimberly A. Jolson.
Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Trevor Velinor, Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs announced the charges.
According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, on at least three occasions in March 2018, Myers robbed individuals at gunpoint after agreeing to purchase items from the victims on the app Let Go and on Craigslist.
On March 15, March 24 and March 29, it is alleged that Myers met with separate victims in the parking lot of a church on Gender Road to buy XBOX and Playstation gaming systems posted on Let Go and Craigslist.
Each time, Myers asked the seller victims to go to his house nearby to test that the systems worked. As the victims began to walk with him, he allegedly retrieved a shotgun stashed in a pile of leaves and pointed it at the victims, telling them to leave their items and walk away. On March 29, Myers retrieved the shotgun near a house on Laburnum Drive. Columbus police responded to the scene of each incident, and officers learned the home on Laburnum Drive was the residence of Myers’s grandfather.
Interstate robbery is a federal crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence carries a potential sentence seven years to life in prison. Possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony is a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the investigation of this case by the ATF and Columbus Division of Police, as well as Assistant United States Attorney David J. Bosley, who is prosecuting the case.
A criminal complaint merely contains allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
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