Chesapeake Bandits Heist Team Member Sentenced to Prison

A member of a notorious group that stole an armored vehicle in 2022 has been sentenced to nearly 14 years in federal prison.

James Russell Davis, 35, of Los Angeles, was described by the U.S. Department of Justice as a lookout for “Chesapeake bandits,” who robbed an armored car at gunpoint on February 14, 2022.

The DOJ says Davis admitted to scouting a credit union in Hawthorne with a co-conspirator and hatching a plan to ambush the driver of an armored vehicle after he finished servicing an ATM.

Davis and his accomplices returned to the scene weeks later and carried out their plan, with Davis acting as lookout while his partners, armed with an assault rifle and a semi-automatic handgun, ran out. their vehicle and held the driver at gunpoint.

One of the gunmen pushed the driver to the ground, took away his service pistol and held him at gunpoint during the robbery, the Justice Department said. At one point, a shot was fired from a handgun, possibly by Davis, but no one was injured.

The robbery crew stole cash and customer checks from ATMs as well as bags of cash from nearby locations. In total, more than $166,000 in cash belonging to the armored vehicle company was stolen.

Davis was ultimately arrested and has been in federal custody since March 2023. He pleaded guilty to one count of obstructing commerce by robbery and one count of discharging a firearm during a violent crime.

“Imagine the terror of being pulled to the ground with a gun pointed at your head,” said Krysti Hawkins, acting assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles field office. “Davis and his accomplices violently ambushed an individual who was just doing his job so they could get away with other people's money.

Hawkins added that the “significant sentence” Davis received cannot compensate for the “emotional and psychological damage inflicted on the victim,” but the FBI hopes it sends a clear message to those who commit violent crimes.

The main defendant in the case, Deneyvous Jayan Hobson, 38, is also charged and identified as a member of the Chesapeake Bandits. Both Davis and Hobson are from the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles and have been identified by several media outlets as half-brothers.

Hobson has pleaded not guilty to his charges and his trial is scheduled to begin September 3. He faces similar charges to Davis, with an additional charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

While Friday's sentence only relates to the Hawthorne armed carjacking, the Chesapeake bandits are also believed to be linked to several other armored vehicle thefts in Los Angeles County.

There are also believed to be other members of the group, but their status remains unclear at this time.