Tavarus Thompson, a 32-year-old resident of the District of Columbia, was sentenced on Mar. 31 to 205 months in prison for his involvement in dozens of armed robberies and attempted robberies across the metropolitan area during early 2022, according to an announcement by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
The sentencing follows Thompson’s guilty plea on March 29, 2024, before Judge Reggie B. Walton to charges of conspiracy to interfere with interstate commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act robbery) and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. In addition to his prison term, Thompson will serve five years of supervised release.
“Tavarus Thompson committed dozens of armed robberies and attempted armed robberies in less than three months—targeting restaurant workers, store clerks, and gas station attendants, ordinary people simply doing their jobs. Each time, they were forced to stare down the barrel of a gun,” said U.S. Attorney Pirro. “Thompson turned workplaces into war zones. This is the kind of individual who does not belong in our society, and today, he is being held fully accountable.”
Court documents show that the series of crimes began on January 12, 2022 with an armed robbery at a gas station on 18th Street NE and concluded in March after law enforcement stopped a stolen car at the intersection of First Street NW and Gallatin Street NW on March 6. This led to the arrest of co-defendant Stephon Harrigan; Thompson was arrested later that month in South Carolina while another co-defendant Aaron Harrigan was arrested shortly thereafter.
Thompson admitted participating in twenty-nine incidents where firearms were brandished—often by himself—during these crimes targeting commercial establishments such as restaurants and convenience stores.
Co-defendants have also been prosecuted: Aaron Harrigan received an eighty-seven-month sentence after pleading guilty last October; Stephon Harrigan pleaded guilty this past March and was sentenced last August to two hundred ten months imprisonment.
The case involved collaboration between several law enforcement agencies including the FBI’s Washington Field Office Violent Crime Task Force and Metropolitan Police Department’s Carjacking Task Force as well as assistance from regional police departments.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Solomon Eppel prosecuted the case with support from other assistant attorneys.
