Belleville man sentenced for role in rash of armed robberies across the metro-east

Belleville News-Democrat
·2 min read

One of a trio of confessed armed robbers, who targeted gas stations in the metro-east in 2021, was sentenced in the U.S. Court for the Southern District of Illinois for his role in the crimes.

Treveon J. Ramsey, 21, of Belleville, pleaded guilty in January to two counts of interference with commerce by robbery and two counts of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. The judge handed him a sentence Tuesday of 20 years in federal prison.

Dylan Harrington, 21, of Fairview Heights, already had been sentenced to 127 months in federal prison in July 2023 after pleading guilty to similar charges.

Javeon Dowell, 21, of Fairview Heights, pleaded guilty to his charges and is scheduled to be sentenced at the federal courthouse in East St. Louis on June 5.

According to court documents, the three planned and committed three armed robberies at businesses around the metro east from October through December 2021.

  • Ramsey and Dowell brandished a gun and demanded money from a clerk at a Circle K gas station in Belleville on Oct. 29, 2021.

  • On Nov. 30, Ramsey and Harrington took money and a box of cigars from a Circle K in Shiloh.

  • Then, on Dec. 1, Ramsey and Dowell returned to the Circle K in Belleville and again displayed a gun and demanded money from the clerk.

“In order to protect business patrons and employees simply trying to do their jobs, the U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to prosecuting individuals who instill fear in gas station clerks by using firearms to demand money from cash registers,” said U.S. Attorney Rachelle Aud Crowe. “I applaud this multijurisdictional investigation by local police and federal law enforcement officers to arrest the trio of dangerous criminals and help to improve public safety throughout the region.”

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Fairview Heights Police Department, Shiloh Police Department and Belleville Police Department officials contributed to the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura V. Reppert prosecuted the case.