Charles Lenard Brownlee, Armed Serial Robbery, Texas 2025

A convicted felon has been found guilty of robbing five cash stores across the Fort Worth metroplex in May 2024, announced Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham.

Charles Lenard Brownlee, 37, was charged via criminal complaint in July 2024 and indicted in August 2024. After two-and-a-half days of trial, a jury convicted him of one count of Hobbs Act Conspiracy to Interfere with Commerce by Robbery, five counts of Hobbs Act Interference with Commerce by Robbery, five counts of Using, Carrying, and Brandishing a Firearm during a Crime of Violence, and one count of Felon in Possession of a Firearm.

Between May 9 and May 21, 2024, Brownlee robbed at gunpoint five Cash Store businesses in Grand Prairie, Fort Worth, Euless, Hurst, and Grapevine. Trying to conceal his identity, Brownlee covered his face with a medical mask and wore different baseball caps and outfits for the robberies.

Reviewing hours of surveillance footage from nearby businesses and other camera systems, detectives from the Grand Prairie, Fort Worth, Euless, Hurst, and Grapevine police departments ascertained that Brownlee used the same vehicle—a black Hyundai Santa Fe equipped with a blue fuzzy steering-wheel cover—to drive to and from each of the five robberies.

At trial, the jury heard from an eyewitness who observed the robber drop a Black & Mild cigarillo as he was running from one of the robberies and thereafter enter the backseat of a black SUV that had a blue fuzzy covering on its steering wheel. Law enforcement collected that cigarillo for DNA testing, and the DNA test results were consistent with Brownlee being the robber from that incident.

The jury also heard testimony from a member of the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team who testified that the cellular phones tied to Brownlee placed him at or near each Cash Store location when it was robbed.

Brownlee now faces a statutory minimum of 35 years and up to life in federal prison. His sentencing date is set for July 11, 2025, before the Honorable Reed O’Connor, who also presided over this trial.

Brownlee’s co-conspirator, who helped him rob two of the Cash Stores, has already pled guilty to one count of Hobbs Act Conspiracy to Interfere with Commerce by Robbery and faces a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison.

Related Federal Cases