BALTIMORE — Two Baltimore men pleaded guilty for a series of armed robberies.
Marquis Moore, 35, and Milek Rankin, 29, both of Baltimore, were charged for their involvement in committing a series of armed commercial robberies and to brandishing a gun during and in relation to a crime of violence.
Moore pleaded guilty on Monday and Rankin pleaded guilty Wednesday.
According to the statements of fact filed as part of Moore’s and Rankin’s guilty pleas, from at least November 2018 through March 1, 2019, Moore and Rankin, along with Dontrell Glover, conspired to commit robberies of commercial businesses, including fast-food restaurants, video game stores, cell phone stores and discount stores in Baltimore City, Baltimore County and Anne Arundel County.
During each robbery, officials say Moore showed a gun to use fear to obtain money and/or other items from the businesses.
Officials provided an example, on January 4, 2019, Moore and Rankin robbed a cell phone store in Essex, Maryland. Moore carried a loaded handgun.
When the store employee resisted giving the robbers money from the business, Moore took the magazine out of the handgun, showed it to the employee, and said, “You can see it’s loaded. We’re not playing games. Give us the d**n money.”
The handgun was loaded with hollow point bullets. During the robbery, Moore struck the employee with the handgun. Moore and Rankin took off using a get-away vehicle driven by Glover. The robbers stole $739 from the store.
According to officials, Moore and Rankin admitted that they committed at least eight additional robberies, with Moore brandishing a gun during each robbery, often pointing the gun at employees. Moore and Rankin fled each robbery using the same get-away vehicle driven by Glover. The conspirators stole a total of at least $15,500 in cash, as well as merchandise, including game systems and food.
