Department of Justice

Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday has sentenced Jeffrey Davis (24, Tampa) to 24 years in federal prison and Tyee Spike (19, Tampa) to 26 years and 3 months for robbing multiple stores at gunpoint. Spike was sentenced on January 13, 2022, and Davis was sentenced on March 23, 2022. Davis had pleaded guilty on March 4, 2021, and Spike had pleaded guilty on August 12, 2021.

According to court documents, between October 13 and 19, 2020, Davis and Spike committed a series of commercial armed robberies in Tampa, Fishhawk, and Riverview. Firearms were brandished during each robbery. During the first robbery, an individual confronted Spike, and Spike shot him in the stomach. The victim remained hospitalized for 12 days but survived. Prior to the robbery spree, Spike committed a carjacking to obtain the getaway vehicle the men used for the robberies. The robbery spree ended with a high-speed chase, in which the defendants crashed the getaway vehicle before being apprehended. At the time of the defendants’ arrests, their getaway vehicle contained a “list of criminal achievements and/or ambitions,” which itemized various houses and personal possessions, and under the heading “Licks,” included the names and locations of several commercial establishments.

In the year prior to the robbery spree, Spike had been convicted of battery on a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon, resisting an officer with violence, grand theft motor vehicle, two counts of robbery, and burglary of an unoccupied conveyance.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Tampa Police Department, and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Callan Albritton and former Assistant United States Attorney Natalie Adams.