SIOUX CITY – A man who committed “smash-and-grab” robberies at a number of jewelry stores, including one in Iowa, was sent to prison for eight years.
Delonte Harris, age 32, from Detroit, Michigan, received the prison term after a May 30, 2024, guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and one count of interference with commerce by robbery.
On or about March 17, 2015, defendant was convicted of two counts of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1951. This criminal conduct included a September 9, 2014, smash-and-grab robbery, where the conspirators used a stolen car as a getaway vehicle and sledgehammers, to steal Rolex watches, from Gunderson’s Jewelers in Omaha, Nebraska. This criminal conduct, also, included a January 12, 2015, smash-and-grab robbery, where the conspirators used a stolen car as a getaway vehicle and sledgehammers, to steal Rolex watches from Sidney Thomas Jewelers in Newton, Massachusetts.
Harris was sent to federal prison for these crimes. After serving his prison term he was released to federal supervised release. During this same time Harris was discovered to be in criminal possession a firearm in Michigan. He was charged federally with the new offense but released on federal pre-trial supervision until his Michigan federal trial was to commence.
On October 29, 2022 – while on federal pretrial supervision in Detroit, Michigan, and while awaiting the resolution of his federal firearms charge in Detroit – Harris and his conspirators perpetrated another smash-and-grab robbery. Again, the conspirators used a stolen car as a getaway vehicle and sledgehammers, to steal Rolex watches. This time their victim was the Gunderson’s Jewelers, in Sioux City, Iowa. After the Sioux City robbery, law enforcement responded to a report of an abandoned vehicle left running behind a Sioux City business. Investigation of the vehicle revealed it had been stolen, used in the Gunderson’s robbery, and contained evidence linking Harris to the car-theft and jeweler store robbery.
Harris has a long criminal history. At the age 18, he was disarmed by law enforcement and convicted of a weapons violation. At the age of 30, he was again disarmed by law enforcement and convicted for a weapons violation. At the age of 23, he committed the smash-and-grab robberies and was convicted in federal court as described above. At age 32, he struck again committing the instant offenses.
Harris was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand, for what Judge Strand termed, “a brazen, broad-day light, robbery” to 105 months’ imprisonment. He was ordered to make restitution. He must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Harris is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was investigated by the Sioux City, Iowa Police Department, and the United States Department of Justice’s Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Forde Fairchild.