Daquan Hampton, Armed Robbery, North Carolina 2022

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Daquan Hampton, 27, of Clover, South Carolina, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for a string of armed robberies in Charlotte, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

On June 8, 2022, at approximately 11:22 p.m., a Waffle House employee was in the parking lot of the restaurant in Charlotte when two masked men approached him with guns drawn. The two men forced the employee inside the restaurant and demanded money from the cash registers. The employee replied that he was not able to open the safe without a key. At one point, one of the suspects, later identified as Hampton, used his firearm to pistol-whip the victim in the side of the head and took the victim’s fanny pack.

Two days later, on June 10, 2022, a distraught Domino’s Pizza employee placed a call to 911 to report that two men had robbed the business at gunpoint, stealing $125 in cash and $100 from an employee. Approximately 18 hours after the Domino’s Pizza robbery, two masked men entered through the front door of a Papa John’s Pizza restaurant located in Charlotte. One of the men demanded money and ordered all six occupants to the back room where he made them get on the floor.

The second man remained with the victims at gunpoint while the other had employees access the cash registers and safe. The employee could not open one of the registers, so one of the men pistol-whipped him, causing a laceration to the victim’s head. The men took $880 from the store’s registers and fled out of the back door on foot.

On June 14, 2022, a CMPD officer conducted a traffic stop of Hampton’s vehicle for a traffic violation. Hampton was arrested after the officer recovered a firearm Hampton had attempted to discard during the traffic stop. Inside Hampton’s vehicle, law enforcement found marijuana, $1,417 in cash, and two loaded Glock 23 magazines.

Hampton pleaded guilty on August 1, 2023, to conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, Hobbs Act robbery and aiding and abetting, and possession and discharging of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Hampton is currently in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

U.S. Attorney King thanked the FBI and CMPD for their investigation of the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alfredo De La Rosa and Regina Pack prosecuted the case, which is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime.

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