Man Sentenced to 32-Month Prison Term For Robbing a Woman

Photo by PoPville flickr user KJinDC

From MPD:

Vincent Shingler, 24, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to two years and eight months in prison for a robbery that took place in Northwest Washington last summer, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.

Shingler pled guilty in December 2012 in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to a robbery charge. He was sentenced by the Honorable Gerald I. Fisher. Upon completion of his prison term, Shingler will be placed on three years of supervised release.

According to the government’s evidence, Shingler came from behind and approached the victim, a Howard University graduate student, at about 4:15 p.m. on Aug. 22, 2012. The victim was headed toward home from campus, listening to a book on tape, when she was accosted in the 700 block of Quincy Street NW. Shingler snatched her iPhone and ran.

The victim, who had only been in Washington, D.C. for a week, after moving here from Alaska, cried out for help and multiple eyewitnesses came to her aid. However, Shingler was able to successfully get away. Then, about two weeks after the robbery, the victim saw Shingler enter a local store and called police. Members of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) arrested Shingler in the 700 block of Rock Creek Church Road NW.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen commended the work of the MPD officers and detectives who investigated the case. He also thanked those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Assistant Todd McClelland and Intelligence Specialist Sharon Johnson. Finally, he acknowledged the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney Phil Selden, of the Superior Court Felony Major Crimes Section who prosecuted the case.