Following a 2015 incident at the Pines Motel in Postville, armed robbers convicted in Federal Court this month

On September 16, 2015, the Postville Police Department, along with several neighboring law enforcement agencies, as well as the Waterloo Police Department and the Iowa State Patrol, conducted a raid at the Pines Motel. August 10, 2017, nearly two years later, the case has been completed and the two ring leaders have been found guilty of several charges.

The raid occurred after law enforcement officials determined that several individuals were involved in a cell phone store armed robbery in Waterloo, Iowa, the previous day, had checked into the motel.  

Local police, along with officers from Waterloo, and the State Highway Patrol and officers from several counties’ agencies and Sheriff’s departments were on the scene beginning at about daybreak. A tactical SWAT team was also  called to the scene. A preliminary announcement from the  Iowa State Patrol indicated that the incident was in reference to an in-depth investigation with multiple agencies involved.

It was later learned that the investigation was led by the Waterloo Police Department as it related to a robbery in Waterloo at the iWireless store on San Marnan Drive in Waterloo. Police indicated the suspects stole phones, money and were armed with a handgun. 

The suspect’s vehicles were later spotted in the parking lot of the Pines Motel in Postville. Waterloo police asked for help from the Iowa State Patrol’s tactical team to search one of the rooms.

Although not documented, it is thought that one of the suspect’s female companion had previously resided in Postville.

Six suspects were apprehended and were initially incarcerated at the Clayton County Jail. The suspects, all from the Chicago area, were Roosevelt Brown, 20, Harvey, Ill, first degree robbery; James Harden, 29, Markham, Ill., first degree robbery, Don N. Redmond, 29, Harvey, Ill, first degree robbery; Jeffrey A. Kemp, 39, Chicago, Ill, first degree robbery; Lawrence D. Adkinson, 27, Hazel Crest, Ill, First Degree Robbery and Dominique Walker, 22, Harvey, Ill, accessory after the fact, first degree robbery and third degree theft.

The case came to completion on August 10th after the two ring leaders of the armed robbers, Jeffrey Kemp and Lawrence Adkinson, were found guilty in Federal Court.

Jeffrey A. Kemp, 41, Dolton, Illinois, and Lawrence D. Adkinson, 28, Hazel Crest, Illinois, were convicted in federal court before U. S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt for their roles as ringleaders of a group of armed robbers who wreaked havoc across the upper Midwest in the summer and fall of 2015. 

The defendants were convicted of conspiracy to commit robbery, conspiracy to brandish a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, robbery, and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

“This group used violence to terrorize retail store employees around the Midwest,” said the prosecuting attorney. “Putting the safety of shoppers, employees and law enforcement in jeopardy will never be tolerated. They will now be held accountable.”

The investigation began when a T-Mobile store in Clarksville, Indiana, and a Verizon store in Lexington, Kentucky, were robbed at gun point on successive days in July 2015. The investigation led by the FBI and a coalition of state and local law enforcement agencies and offices determined that Kemp and Adkinson led a group of ten men who committed armed robberies of cell phone retailers in various cities and towns in Illinois, including Joliet, Bloomington, Batavia, and DeKalb, and in St. Louis, Missouri, and Waterloo, Iowa, in addition to those in Clarksville, Indiana, and Lexington, Kentucky. The defendants were ultimately arrested in Iowa, while still in possession of phones stolen from many of the other locations.

The robberies were violent in nature. The robbers often held firearms to the faces of the victims before ultimately restraining them in the back rooms of the retail stores. Kemp and Adkinson, as the leaders of the group, provided all the vehicles, guns, and other instrumentalities of the robberies, selected all of the stores to be robbed, and decided who would rob each store. The other eight defendants have all pled guilty for their roles in the offenses.

“These men victimized the Midwest over the course of four months, traumatizing employees who were simply trying to do their jobs and had no idea their ‘customers’ were really violent criminals out do to them harm,” said W. Jay Abbott, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Indianapolis Division. “This conviction is a testament to the dedication of our agents and our partners whose hard work on this investigation ensured this group is no longer a threat to the community.”

According to Assistant United States Attorneys Bradley Shepard and Pamela Domash who prosecuted this case for the government, both defendants face up to life in prison at sentencing. No sentencing date has been set by the court.