Jamaal Marquie Mays, Brandishing Firearms During Robbery, Minnesota…

Armed and dangerous, Jamaal Marquie Mays, 33, and JaQuon Keshawn Moman, 25, are accused of terrorizing retail employees during a pair of brazen Minnesota robberies in 2017. Federal prosecutors unsealed a superseding indictment detailing charges that include brandishing firearms during violent robberies targeting wireless stores in Inver Grove Heights and Minneapolis.

On August 17, 2017, Mays and Moman allegedly stormed a Verizon Wireless store in Inver Grove Heights, Minn., with a firearm visible during the attempted heist. A terrified employee was on-site and forced to witness the armed confrontation, according to the indictment. The robbery failed, but the threat of violence was unmistakable.

Just weeks earlier, on July 10, 2017, Moman and an unnamed accomplice struck a Metro PCS store in Minneapolis, Minn., making off with undisclosed cash. That theft, like the Verizon incident, falls under federal jurisdiction due to the businesses’ involvement in interstate commerce, allowing prosecutors to bring Hobbs Act charges.

Jamaal Mays faces additional scrutiny as a convicted felon, legally barred from possessing any firearm under federal law. Despite that, he’s charged with felon in possession of a firearm, on top of one count of interference with commerce by robbery and one count of using, carrying, brandishing, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.

JaQuon Moman, 25, is charged with two counts of interference with commerce by robbery and one count of using, carrying, brandishing, and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. No prior criminal history was disclosed in the DOJ release, but his alleged role in both robberies places him at the center of the federal probe.

The investigation was led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Inver Grove Heights Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney David P. Steinkamp is prosecuting the case. The charges are merely accusations; Mays and Moman are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.