Department of Justice

CINCINNATI – A federal grand jury has charged two men with a string of armed robberies and the February 2021 murder of Roop C. Gupta, the owner of Madeira Beverage.

Willie James Attaway, 30, of Cincinnati, and Lamond Johnson, 35, most recently of Cincinnati, are charged by a 14-count indictment.

According to the charging document, Attaway and Johnson conspired to commit five armed robberies on Feb. 8 and 9, 2021.

Specifically, the defendants allegedly brandished a firearm to commit robberies on the following occasions:

• February 8 – Shell on Montgomery Road in Deerfield Township,
• February 8 – Shell on Dixie Highway in Hamilton, Ohio,
• February 9 – Madeira Beverage on Kenwood Road in Madeira, Ohio,
• February 9 – Sunoco on Kenwood Road in Blue Ash, Ohio, and
• February 9 – Marathon on North Broadway in Lebanon, Ohio.

Attaway and Johnson are both charged with the Feb. 9, 2021 murder of Gupta, the owner of Madeira Beverage. Using a firearm to commit murder during a crime of violence is potentially punishable by the death penalty.

Related local charges pending against Johnson will be superseded by the federal indictment returned yesterday, and the case will proceed federally.

Attaway and Johnson appeared in federal court today at 1:30pm and the indictment was unsealed at that time.

Vipal J. Patel, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and Roland Herndon, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), announced the charges. Assistant United States Attorney Julie D. Garcia is representing the United States in this case.

The investigation was jointly conducted by ATF and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Madeira Police Department, the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, the Cincinnati, Lebanon, Blue Ash, and Hamilton police departments, and the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.