On Thursday, Oct. 15, in federal court in Central Islip, Spencer Jean was sentenced by United States District Judge Joanna Seybert to 35 years’ imprisonment for Hobbs Act robbery of a marijuana trafficker, discharging a firearm during a crime of violence and obstruction of justice. Jean was found guilty following a jury trial in July 2019.
Eastern District of New York Acting United States Attorney Seth D. DuCharme announced the sentence.
Jean, 34, of Westbury, is also known as ‘Cash.”
On March 20, 2018 in Middle Island, Jean robbed $1,500 worth of marijuana from a drug dealer he had met at a halfway house following his 2008 conviction for committing a series of nine armed robberies in Nassau and Suffolk Counties for which he received a sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment. During the robbery, Jean shot the victim in the leg at close range with a 9mm Glock handgun loaded with hollow-point bullets. The victim was placed on life support due to loss of blood and hospitalized for one month, but survived his injuries. After his arrest, Jean directed a former girlfriend to provide an alibi for him by lying to law enforcement and falsely testifying at trial that he was at a nursing home in Medford at the time of the shooting.
“The defendant demonstrated disregard for the life of his victim and no respect for the rule of law, even after having served a lengthy prison sentence,” stated DuCharme. “It is thus appropriate and just that he now will be incapacitated in prison for more than three decades.”
DuCharme expressed his grateful appreciation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office, for the investigative work on the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of its renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorneys’ Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally based strategies to reduce violent crime.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Long Island Criminal Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Anthony Bagnuola and Allen L. Bode are in charge of the prosecution.
—Submitted by the Eastern District of New York
