CINCINNATI — A federal grand jury Wednesday charged two men in connection with a string of armed robberies that took place earlier this year across Southwest Ohio, including one that left the owner of a Madeira convenience store dead.
Thirty-year-old Willie James Attaway and 35-year-old Lamond Johnson, both of Cincinnati, face 14 counts in connection to five armed robberies that occurred on Feb. 8 and 9, 2021, according to acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio Vipal J. Patel:
- Feb. 8: Shell station on Montgomery Road in Deerfield Township;
- Feb. 8: Shell station on Dixie Highway in Hamilton;
- Feb. 9: Madeira Beverage on Kenwood Road in Madeira;
- Feb. 9: Sunoco station on Kenwood Road in Blue Ash; and
- Feb. 9: Marathon station on North Broadway in Lebanon.
According to the indictments, the two men brandished a firearm to commit these robberies. In the Feb. 9 robbery of Madeira Beverage, the incident resulted in the shooting death of owner Roop C. Gupta, Patel said.
The 14-count indictment includes murder charges for both Attaway and Johnson in Gupta's death. Johnson already had faced local charges in Gupta's death, but Patel said these federal charges will supersede the local indictment.
"Using a firearm to commit murder during a crime of violence is potentially punishable by the death penalty," Patel said in a news release Thursday.
