Six individuals, including Chaka LeChar Castro, 40, and Juan Olaya, 35, both of Houston, and Jakeyra Augustus, 21, of La Marque, Texas, were charged today in connection with their involvement in an armed robbery crew that conducted home invasion robberies in Michigan and Texas.
The armed robberies allegedly committed by this organized criminal group were horrific home invasions that spread fear through Asian and Indian communities across multiple states, said Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell.
The defendants allegedly used online research to target their victims from a distance, traveled to their homes, and then carried out the robberies while the victims were at home.
According to the indictment, the defendants committed four armed home invasion robberies in the greater Ann Arbor area over the Thanksgiving weekend in 2014, as well as additional armed robberies in the greater Dallas area in early December 2014.
The crews allegedly utilized a similar modus operandi in each of the robberies, including using female decoys to knock on the victims’ doors and gain entry, or they merely forced entry themselves.
Once inside, members of the robbery crew—disguised with bandanas and masks—allegedly brandished firearms to gain control of their victims, including children, and then forced them at gunpoint into a single room of the home.
Chaka LeChar Castro, Juan Olaya, and Octavius Scott, 22, all of Houston, and Jakeyra Augustus, 21, of La Marque, Texas, are each charged with engaging in a RICO conspiracy, four counts of assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering, and four counts of use and carrying of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
Rodney Granger, 19, and Johnisha Williams, 19, both of Houston, are each charged with engaging in a RICO conspiracy.
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