Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Two Remaining Defendants Admit to Kidnapping of Jewelry Store Employee
PHILADELPHIA - Salahudin Shaheed, 35, and Basil Buie, 24, both of Philadelphia, PA, pleaded guilty today to their roles in a botched robbery and kidnapping that involved a jewelry store employee. Both defendants pleaded guilty today to conspiracy, kidnapping, and attempted Hobbs Act robbery. A third defendant, Khayree Gay, pleaded guilty earlier. A sentencing hearing for Buie and Shaheed is scheduled for January 2016.
Shaheed recruited defendants Gay and Buie, a/k/a “Basil Tucker,” to rob National Watch and Diamond Exchange, at 101 S. 8th Street in Philadelphia to obtain luxury watches, jewelry, and money which Shaheed said could be found there. The defendants conducted surveillance of National Watch and its employees from a parking lot at 733 Chestnut Street, to identify and then, in disguise, abduct an employee from whom they would forcibly obtain keys, security codes, and the code to the company’s safe from which the robbers would steal luxury watches, jewelry, and money.
On April 4, 2015, the defendants watched an employee that Shaheed had targeted. When the employee entered the garage and approached her car, Shaheed and Buie, wearing masks, gloves, and sunglasses, confronted the victim, Shaheed assaulted her with a Taser, and they kidnapped her.
Each defendant faces a maximum possible statutory sentence of life in prison, five years of supervised release, a fine of up to $750,000, and a $300 special assessment.
The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jeanine Linehan and Maureen McCartney.