GRAND RAPIDS, MI (WTVB) – Coldwater Police say a suspect in the August 2016 robbery of the Sprint Store at 849 East Chicago in Coldwater has been sentenced in Federal Court in Grand Rapids. 24-year-old Tramain Hill of Chicago was given a prison sentence of 10 years, 10 months and was ordered to pay over $42,000 in restitution after he entered a guilty plea to a charge of Interference With Commerce by Robbery.
The store was robbed at gunpoint by two men right before closing time on August 27, 2016. There were three employees and a customer in the store at the time. They were herded into a back room where their ankles and wrists were tied up with zip ties.
The robbers then took property from the victims as well as $40,000 worth of cell phones before fleeing out a back door. The victims were not injured. The suspects left Michigan shortly after the robbery.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Western Michigan says the robbers went back to central Illinois where they sold the cell phones to a fence.
In all, there were four suspects associated with the investigation. Three have been prosecuted with two of them awaiting sentencing in Illinois. The case remains under investigation.
Coldwater Police were assisted by the F.B.I. Field Office in Kalamazoo. Numerous police agencies in Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois also had a hand in the investigation. Lt. Patrick Beeman was the lead investigator for Coldwater Police.
Coldwater Director of Public Safety Mark Bartell said there was great teamwork all around.
Bartell said at the time of the robbery that a store customer praised the manager for keeping everyone calm and for getting the robbers to leave quickly before anyone got hurt.
