Robber, getaway driver convicted in L.A. County heists could face up to life in prison

Two people found guilty of committing armed robberies in Los Angeles County, one of them acting as a getaway driver, could face up to life in prison, federal prosecutors said Friday.

Diavion Deshawna Mouton, a 23-year-old Carson woman, and Rodney Darrin Maxwell Evans, a 23-year-old man from the Vermont Square neighborhood of South Los Angeles, each face a mandatory minimum sentence of 14 years in federal prison but are eligible for maximum possible sentences of life imprisonment, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. 

They were both convicted during a jury trial Friday and will be sentenced at a March 31, 2025 court hearing.

While the pair was not involved in the same crimes, they took part in robberies that involved the same broader network of people — including two individuals federal prosecutors have described as the "ringleaders."

Makai Yusef Sanders and Kenyatta Kamar Jones, both 23-year-old residents of Hawthorne, pleaded guilty to charges on Nov. 26 and have agreed to each be sentenced to up to 25 years in federal prison. They admitted to committing 12 armed robberies at LA-area retailers, most of them chain-store pharmacies, through August and September of last year.

On Aug. 14, 2023, Evans took part in two of the robberies with Sanders and Jones — at Rite Aid stores in Bellflower and Vermont Square — in which they brandished firearms and forced employees to open a safe. They stole a total of $12,410, prosecutors said.

About a month later, on Sept. 19, 2023, Mouton acted as the getaway driver for two armed robberies with Sanders and Jones, in which they again brandished firearms and, according to prosecutors, stole about $1,776. One of the crimes was at a Wingstop in Lynwood while the other was at a Walgreens in Glendale, where Sanders and Jones held a customer and an employee at gunpoint.

They held a customer checking out at the cash register at gunpoint before stealing the person's iPhone. And when they ordered a store employee to open a safe, they pointed a handgun at her back — using the barrel of the gun to push her to move faster. 

"In fear for her life, the employee began walking to the back of the store where the safe was located," reads a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. "Once at the back of the store, the employee noticed the robber was distracted talking to the other robber. The employee then locked herself inside the store's staffing office and called 911."

By the end of that robbery, Sanders and Jones took off with four iPhones stolen from people at the Walgreens and drove away in a white Honda Civic, a car which law enforcement officials later discovered had been rented through a car-sharing company.

Just five days later, investigators tracked down and arrested Sanders, Jones and Mouton.

They used phone records and GPS data to find them and discovered evidence linking them to the crimes, according to federal prosecutors, including handguns and clothing consistent with those used and worn by the suspects in the Walgreens robbery.

The criminal charges Mouton and Evans have been convicted of include one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act), two counts of Hobbs Act robbery and two counts of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

Meanwhile, Sanders and Jones pleaded guilty last month to one count of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, one count of Hobbs Act robbery and one count of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. While they are scheduled to be sentenced on March 31, 2025, they have agreed to 25-year sentences through plea agreements reached with federal prosecutors. 

Their charges would have carried a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years in federal prison and a maximum possible sentence of life in prison.

Prosecutors said the string of robberies also involved three other defendants, including a 24-year-old man believed to be a fugitive: DeAngel Daryl Alvarez, a.k.a. "Macc," of the Athens area of South Los Angeles. 

Adrian Timothy Bedran, a 24-year-old resident of Rosemead, pleaded guilty to one count of Hobbs Act robbery on Sept. 9, and he remains free on $50,000 bond until his sentencing scheduled for Jan. 13 of next year. The last defendant in the case — 20-year-old Kevin Antwon Gadley, a.k.a. "One Shot," of San Fernando — is currently in state custody in connected with unrelated charges.