photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

The T-Mobile store at 4801 Bauer Farm Drive is pictured on Feb. 3, 2023.

Two people have been sentenced to prison by a federal court in connection with an armed robbery in 2022 at a Lawrence cellphone store where the store clerks were bound with duct tape and held at gunpoint while robbers took more than $50,000 in merchandise.

Darien Khalil Chambers, 31, and Iveth Moreno, 23, pleaded guilty to one felony count each of interference with commerce by robbery and one count of use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence in connection with the robbery on April 2, 2022, at the T-Mobile store at 4801 Bauer Farm Drive. Moreno pleaded to the charges in February while Chambers entered his plea in July. Both are from the Chicago area.

photo by: Douglas County Sheriff’s Office

Darien K. Chambers

Chambers was ordered to serve a total of 98 months, or just over eight years in prison, while Moreno was sentenced to 47 months, almost four years in prison, according to court records. Both were ordered to jointly pay $51,744 in restitution to cover the cost of the stolen merchandise.

Prior to sentencing Moreno had argued in a motion for a reduced sentence that she did not know that Chambers had planned to rob the store. She claimed that Chambers was her supervisor at a Chicago Dollar Tree and she and Chambers were in a romantic relationship.

“With the promise of a good time, Chambers took advantage of his position over Moreno, and while voluntarily traveling with Chambers, she was ignorant of the full details or purpose of the trip,” Moreno’s attorney Braden Perry wrote in the motion.

Chambers’ attorney, Kirk Redmond, disputed that claim in Chambers’ own motion for a reduced sentence. In text messages exchanged between Chambers and Moreno prior to the robbery, Moreno sent Chambers a copy of her recently acquired gun license and the two then discussed what businesses they should rob. Moreno suggests a Dollar Tree because “we know how it works. So it would be easy”, according to the motion.

Moreno had asked the court not to sentence her to the minimum penalty for the firearms charge which was 84 months, or seven years in prison. The court granted the motion in part reducing the firearms sentence by 50 months, however, the court’s reasons for departing are sealed and unavailable for inspection.

Chambers asked for 84 months and one day as a reduced sentence. His request was accompanied by more than a dozen letters from friends and family members claiming that Chambers’ action did not reflect who he was as a person. Many of the letters note that Chambers has a Master of Business Administration degree from Louisiana State University.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Trent Krug requested that Chambers be sentenced to 121 months in accordance with federal sentencing guidelines and said that the crime was more than just “a spontaneous crime of opportunity” and that Chambers’ meticulously planned the robbery. Prosecutors alleged that Chambers planned the robbery the same night as KU Basketball faced off against Villanova during the Final Four tournament.

“(Chambers) likely knew there would be decreased customer activity at the T-Mobile store and minimal law enforcement presence in the area,” Krug wrote in response to Chamber’s motion.

The court departed from sentencing guidelines in Chambers’ case also but like Moreno’s, the court’s reasoning is sealed from public view.

Chamber’s and Moreno were alleged to have traveled from Illinois to Lawrence to rob the T-Mobile Store. Lawrence police investigated the incident and Chambers was originally charged in Douglas County District Court with two felony counts of aggravated robbery with a handgun and two felony counts of kidnapping until the case was moved to federal court, as the Journal-World reported.

According to an affidavit in support of Chambers’ arrest, Chambers and Moreno had parked near the cell phone store where police recovered surveillance video of Chambers covering the white Subaru’s license tag with duct tape before the two then drove to the cell phone store.

Once there, Chambers and Moreno, carrying pistols and dressed head to toe in black clothing, entered the store and ordered two store employees into the back room of the store where they proceeded to duct tape the store employees to chairs, the affidavit said.

Chambers then demanded that the employees give him the code for the safe and the employees complied. Chambers then went to the front of the store and took cash from the store’s register telling Moreno to “pop whichever one moves first”, the affidavit said.

Chambers and Moreno then taped the mouths of the employees and left the store carrying bags of cell phones and other merchandise.

“I’m sure someone will come get you,” Chambers told the employees as he left, the affidavit said.

Two witnesses parked nearby watched as Chambers and Moreno left the store and called 911, and an officer soon came to free the employees. Police were later able to track the Subaru’s driving route to and from the store using traffic cameras throughout the city and then traced the car back to Chambers and arrested him the next time he was seen in Lawrence.