Department of Justice

Benton, Ill. – Two men have been sentenced for their role in a 2018 marijuana robbery and shooting in Caseyville, Illinois. Deveon Humphries, 28, was sentenced to 144 months in federal prison on one count of interfering with commerce by robbery and one count of discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. The sentencing hearing was conducted on Monday, November 22, 2021, in U.S. District Court in Benton, Illinois. Humphries pled guilty to the charges in May of this year. His co-defendant, Dartaniel Pruitt, 27, was sentenced in August of this year.

According to court documents, the crimes occurred on September 30, 2018, when Humphries arranged a fake marijuana sale with the plan to rob the marijuana dealer. Humphries was armed and had concocted a plan with his co-defendant, Pruitt, to take the marijuana at gunpoint. During the robbery, Humphries shot a witness several times. Pruitt and Humphries fled the scene with the marijuana. The Caseyville Police Department investigated the robbery and later recovered Humphries’ firearm.

As part of their sentences, Humphries and Pruitt were also ordered to serve a 5-year term of supervised release.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

The investigation was conducted by the Caseyville Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Alexandria Burns.