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ROCKFORD, Ill. - An Illinois man has been convicted of federal robbery and firearm charges in connection with a series of violent retail store robberies in Rockford, prosecutors said.
A jury convicted Rickey Claybron, 35, on one count of conspiracy to commit robbery, three counts of robbery, one count of attempted robbery, two counts of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence and two counts of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.
Claybron faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
According to evidence presented by prosecutors during his trial, Claybron and his co-conspirators conducted four violent robberies in the fall of 2015.
On Oct. 28, 2015, Claybron entered H&A Tobacco located at 1623 Broadway in Rockford. According to prosecutors, he pointed his gun at a clerk and ordered the clerk and a customer to get on the ground. The clerk's personal belongings, cash and multiple cartons of cigarettes were stolen.
On Nov. 2, 2015 at Advance Auto located at 3019 Auburn Street in Rockford, a store employee was ordered at gunpoint to lay on the ground while another employee was ordered to open the cash registers, prosecutors said. One employee was struck in the side of the face with a gun and later shot at when he ran from the store.
Cash was stolen from the store and from one of the employees, prosecutors said.
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On Nov. 5, 2015, Claybron entered Zake Convenience at 824 7th St. in Rockford and pointed a gun directly at store clerks and then reached behind a partition and waved his gun.
When Claybron was unable to gain access to the cash register, he and the other robbers fled the store, authorities said.
On Nov. 13, 2015, Claybron pointed a sawed-off shotgun at customers at the Shell Express at 3003 11th St. in Rockford, while a co-conspirator, Deandre Haywood, pointed a gun at store employees and grabbed cigarettes and cash from the registers.
Haywood shot an employee in the back and Claybron struck an employee in the head with his shotgun, prosecutors said.
Haywood and a third co-conspirator, Darnell Leavy, pleaded guilty prior to trial.
Haywood was sentenced to 26 and a half years in federal prison. Leavy was sentenced to 11 and a half years.