Omaha Woman Sentenced for Conspiracy to Interfere with Commerce by Robbery

United States Attorney Susan Lehr announced that Adrionna Leeper, 25, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced May 3, 2024, in federal court in Omaha for conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery. Chief United State District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. sentenced Leeper to 75 months' imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. After she is released from prison, she will begin a 3-year term of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $8,463.67.

On February 24, 2022, at 10:46 pm, Omaha Police Department ("OPD") officers responded to a robbery and assault at the Midwest Smoke Shop at 7010 Dodge Street #105 in Omaha. The store employee stated that four parties were in the store, and the employee initially thought they were customers. One of the suspects demanded money and a cell phone from the employee. The employee declined and grabbed a baseball bat in order to defend himself. One of the suspects attempted to physically assault the employee. The suspects left the store without any money from the store, but one of the suspects did take money from a tip jar. Investigators believed, based on the video, that Ms. Leeper personally participated in this robbery with Quincy Louis.

On February 25, 2022, at 6:31 pm, OPD Officers responded to a robbery at the Family Dollar at 6618 North 30th Street in Omaha. Witnesses and store employees advised a male wearing a black hoodie, black pants, black shoes, and a black ski mask came into the store with a handgun and demanded cash from the register and safes. The suspect pointed the handgun at several people and even put it to the back of the store manager's head. The suspect then demanded the clerk put the money into a plastic bag from the store and then fled from the store northbound on foot. The suspect also demanded the employee remove the "tracked money" from the bag prior to taking the money and fleeing. The suspect obtained $1,342 from this robbery. Faye Lynn Hardesty worked at this store leading up to the robbery.

On February 25, 2022, at 7:05 pm, OPD Officers responded to a robbery at the Family Dollar at 2601 North 16th Street in Omaha. Witnesses advised a male wearing a black hoodie, black pants, black shoes, and a black ski mask came into the store with a handgun and demanded cash from the register. The suspect then had the clerk put the money into a bag from the store and fled southbound on foot.

A short time later, on February 25, 2022, at approximately 9:26 pm, OPD officers responded to a robbery at the Bucky's/ Casey's Gas Station at 2223 South 24th Street in Omaha. The clerk advised a male wearing a brown hoodie jacket and a black ski mask came into the store with a handgun and demanded cash from the register. The suspect then demanded the clerk put the money into a bag and ran from the store.

Less than an hour later, on February 25, 2022, at 10:01 pm, officers responded to a robbery at the MegaSaver Gas Station at 10707 Blondo Street in Omaha. The clerk advised a male, wearing a black hoodie, black pants and ski mask, entered the store and demanded money from the register. The suspect then had the clerk put the money into a bag from the store and fled southbound on foot. During this robbery, the suspect racked the gun and told a victim, "I'm not joking!"

Within approximately half an hour of the MegaSaver robbery, OPD officers responded to a robbery at the Casey's/ Bucky's Gas Station at 107 South 40th Street in Omaha. The clerk advised a male entered the store, showing a handgun, demanded money from the register and struck her in the head with the base plate of the firearm. The clerk was injured from the assault and received medical treatment for a cut to the right side of her head. Individuals on scene described the clerk as acting disoriented or confused. The suspect demanded the money be put into a plastic store bag and ran from the store. The suspect was described as a thinner male, wearing all black, a black ski mask, and a surgical mask over his mouth.

On February 26, 2022, at 11:58 pm, OPD Officers responded to a robbery at the Valero Select Mart Gas Station located at 2604 S 13th Street in Omaha. The clerk advised a male, wearing a black hoodie, pants and ski mask, armed with a black handgun, entered the store and threatened to shoot the employee. The suspect then demanded the clerk put the money from the cash register and safe into a plastic bag from the store along with Nebraska lottery scratch tickets. The cash taken during this robbery was approximately $4,000. Also on February 26, 2022, the suspect robbed a Kwik Shop in Ralston, Nebraska and took $135.68 from the register, $510 from the safe, Newport brand cigarettes and lottery tickets.

On February 27, 2022, at 1:04 am, Council Bluffs Police Officers were dispatched to a robbery at the Romantix store at 3216 151 Avenue, Council Bluffs, Iowa. The suspect was described as a male, wearing all dark clothing and a dark mask, armed with a handgun. The suspect demanded money from the business, and upon receiving money the suspect fled the business.

On February 27, 2022, at 3:21 am, Bellevue Police officers were dispatched to a robbery at the QuikTrip Gas Station at 1311 Fort Crook Road, Bellevue, Nebraska. Upon arrival officers spoke to the clerk who advised a male wearing all black clothing and a ski mask robbed the store at gunpoint, then fled southbound on foot.

Approximately 90 minutes later, still on February 27, 2022, OPD officers responded to a robbery at a different QuikTrip gas station on 1704 South 72nd Street in Omaha. The clerk advised a male wearing a black hoodie and ski mask entered the store, pointed a black handgun at her and demanded money from the register. The suspect had the clerk put the money into a store plastic bag and ran from the store.

The next day, February 28, 2022, at approximately 10:32 pm, Omaha police officers responded to an attempted robbery call at a Smoke and Vape shop located at 4102 South 24th Street in Omaha. The employee reported a suspect in all dark clothing came to the door of the business, attempted to open it while it was locked, and then pointed a handgun at the employee when the suspect could not get in the business. The suspect said to the employee, "Open the door, and I won't kill you." The employee denied admittance, and the suspect fled the area.

Three robberies occurred in Lincoln, Nebraska on March 1, 2022. During the three business robberies, it was learned the suspect description was similar to the description of the suspect in the QuikTrip robbery and also that during one of the robberies, a clerk from one of the businesses had been "pistol whipped" by the suspect. Another customer was kicked in the head during one of the Lincoln robberies. The locations of the robberies in Lincoln were 2710 W Street; 4400 Cornhusker Highway ($500 was taken during this Kwik Shop robbery); and 3500 North 48th Street. Investigators on scene described the pistol-whipped employee as disoriented from the

injury and visibly hurt and bleeding on her face. The suspect with the gun told one customer who was not injured like the other customers, "I'm not going to hurt you because you're black."

Following those three robberies in Lincoln, another robbery occurred in Omaha on March 1, 2022, and during this robbery, officers were flagged down while the robbery was in progress. During this robbery, a female customer was ordered to the ground, and the suspect put a gun to her back and asked how much money was in her purse, and she said, "$100," and the suspect said, "That's it?" and moved on from her. This allowed officers to identify a suspect vehicle in relation to that robbery (identified a gray 2021 Nissan Versa with Florida plates). Officers were able to track down the getaway vehicle as it fled the scene of this fourth robbery on March 1, 2022. The driver of the vehicle proceeded to lead police officers on a high-speed pursuit. During the pursuit, one of suspects fired shots at the police cruiser and one of those shots struck the cruiser with police officers inside of it. The pursuit continued from Douglas County into Sarpy County, Nebraska to South 138th Street, Springfield, Nebraska where the pursuit ended. At the conclusion of the pursuit, four suspects were taken into custody out of the getaway vehicle and transported to OPD Headquarters for interviews. The suspects were identified as Quincy Louis, D'Juan Beverly, Jr, Adrionna Leeper, and Faye Lynne Hardesty. A black Glock43X firearm was recovered in the area that Quincy Louis was located and taken into custody.

All four defendants gave statements to police officers about the robbery spree, and multiple defendants identified Quincy Louis as the suspect going into the businesses with a handgun to rob them. Louis was voluntarily interviewed and admitted to committing the robberies in the series. Louis provided details of the robberies in Bellevue, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Lincoln, Omaha, and Ralston. Louis also admitted to firing shots at the pursuing officers. The corroborating details that Louis provided details that matched the robberies to include location, proceeds and method.

Investigators reviewed video surveillance of the robberies and noted that it appeared to them that the same hoodie, black with white drawstrings, was worn in all of the robberies and there were similarities in how the robberies were committed. There was consistency in the types of businesses that were targeted as well. All of the businesses obtained goods from outside the State of Nebraska at the time of the robberies, and the businesses had to close during the investigation of the scenes and lost customers during those timeframes or were unable to serve customers during the on-scene investigations.

Investigators in follow-up searches recovered not only the Glock handgun but also items that appeared to be taken during business robberies that were recovered in a personal handbag of Adrionna Leeper. One of the defendants indicated that all of the defendants shared in the proceeds of the robberies. Interviews amongst the defendants confirmed that Beverly, Jr. served as the getaway driver and that the female defendants assisted with casing businesses. Leeper was also identified as assisting Quincy Louis on video in the first robbery at the Midwest Smoke Shop on February 24, 2022.

Co-defendant Quincy Louis pled guilty to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. He was sentenced to 240 months imprisonment and a 5-year term of supervised released. He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $8,463.67.

Co-defendant D'Juan Beverly, Jr. pled guilty to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. He was sentenced to 240 months imprisonment and a 5-year term of supervised released. He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $8,463.67.

Co-defendant Faye Hardesty pled guilty to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. She was sentenced to 78 months imprisonment and a 5-year term of supervised released. She was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $8,463.67.

This case was investigated by <_w3a_sdt docpart="F0A198280A804DE1A9FAD6993B91B347" dropdown="t" id="1639759743" sdttag="Agency" title="Agency"><_w3a_listitem datavalue="[CHOOSE AN AGENCY]" listvalue="[CHOOSE AN AGENCY]"> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. " listvalue="the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. "> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="the Drug Enforcement Administration." listvalue="the Drug Enforcement Administration."> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="the Federal Bureau of Investigation." listvalue="the Federal Bureau of Investigation."> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="the Department of Homeland Security." listvalue="the Department of Homeland Security."> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="Homeland Security Investigations." listvalue="Homeland Security Investigations."> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="Immigration and Customs Enforcement." listvalue="Immigration and Customs Enforcement."> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="the Internal Revenue Service." listvalue="the Internal Revenue Service."> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="IRS Criminal Investigations." listvalue="IRS Criminal Investigations."> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="the Lincoln/Lancaster County Drug Task Force. " listvalue="the Lincoln/Lancaster County Drug Task Force. "> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="the Lincoln Police Department." listvalue="the Lincoln Police Department."> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="the Nebraska State Patrol." listvalue="the Nebraska State Patrol."> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="the Omaha FBI's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force" listvalue="the Omaha FBI's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force"> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="the Omaha Police Department." listvalue="the Omaha Police Department."> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="the Postal Inspection Service." listvalue="the Postal Inspection Service."> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="the U.S. Secret Service." listvalue="the U.S. Secret Service."> the Federal Bureau of Investigation.