5 arrested on federal charges in Mount Vernon robbery that left employee, robber dead

Five Bronx men were arrested on federal murder and robbery charges in the botched heist at a Mount Vernon cannabis warehouse that ended in a shootout in which a robber and employee were killed - a brazen early morning robbery that authorities said involved as many as 10 other people.

A confidential informant who took part told authorities that the robbers had hoped to steal as much as $8 million and six kilograms of cocaine at the warehouse, where illegal marijuana and other vaping products were sold to customers and smoke shops around the region.

The defendants, Ilario Contreras, 23, Jerpi Diaz-Feliz, 25, Jhoan Diaz-Feliz, 23, Victor Jimenez, 35, and Joseph Perez, 26, appeared late Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in White Plains where they were ordered held without bail. The most serious charge, murder with a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking conspiracy, would make the defendants eligible for the death penalty if federal prosecutors decide to seek it.

The robbery at 137 South Fifth Ave. began shortly before 12:15 am Tuesday when more than 10 men, many carrying guns, exited a van parked outside the warehouse and confronted customers and employees who were loading a large order of products into the customers' vehicle, according to FBI Special Agent Justin Gray in a criminal complaint detailing the charges.

The gunmen forced the customers and employees back into the warehouse and a gunfight between the robbers and warehouse employees ensued.

When police arrived a short time later they found one man - believed to be one of the robbers - on the floor with a gunshot wound to the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A warehouse employee was located under some shelves with multiple gunshot wounds to the torso, upper chest and lower abdomen. He was taken to Montefiore Mount Vernon Hospital, where he died a short time later.

Neither man has been publicly identified.

Police recovered an AR-15 rifle and spent shell casings from it and from a 9mm handgun. The rifle was owned by the warehouse and kept behind the counter, according to the complaint.

The FBI and Mount Vernon police identified the dead robber through his fingerprints and learned that he lived at a Bronx housing complex. According to the complaint, surveillance video there showed seven men getting into the van on Monday afternoon and six returning just over four hours after the robbery.

Police and the FBI had the van under surveillance at the complex Tuesday evening when seven men and two women approached it. Soon the seven men split up into three other cars, which were stopped a short distance away and the occupants searched. The five defendants were among those searched, and one, Jimenez, had the dead robber's identification card, according to the complaint.

Later Tuesday night the FBI released a picture of a man believed to be named Marcos  who they were searching for in connection to the killings. That search was still underway Wednesday afternoon.

On Wednesday the state Office of Cannabis Management was on scene as FBI agents removed boxes of evidence from the warehouse. An OCM spokesman did not respond to queries Wednesday and on Tuesday declined to say whether the location had been on the agency's radar before the robbery.

Federal and Mount Vernon law enforcement officials commended the partnership between the FBI Westchester Safe Streets Task Force, Mount Vernon police, the Westchester District Attorney's Office, Westchester police, the NYPD and the Westchester Real Time Crime Center with what U.S. Attorney Damian Williams called "the swift arrest of this dangerous crew."

"The defendants' alleged brazen actions demonstrated extreme disregard for public safety and posed a significant threat to the community," FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Smith said in a statement.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Five charged in Mt. Vernon cannabis warehouse robbery that left 2 dead