NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A Newport News man was sentenced by a U.S. District Court judge Tuesday to 13 years in prison for brandishing a firearm during a 2019 robbery of a gas station convenience store in Henrico County.
According to court documents, Chaikim Reynolds, 22, went into a Henrico County gas station convenience store on Jan. 17, 2019 with the intention of robbing it. A co-conspirator, Darrell Pittman, 24, of Hampton, had a semiautomatic handgun and pointed it at the clerk while Reynolds gave commands to the clerk and took money from the cash register, according to the court documents.
A Hampton Police Department officer ID’d Reynolds, and less than a week following the robbery, officers tried to stop a vehicle Reynolds was driving, but, with Pittman and two firearms inside, he left the scene, court documents indicate.
After running through two red lights, Reynolds crashed into another vehicle, killing that car’s passenger, according to the court documents, with one of the loaded firearms recovered from the vehicle identified as the one used in the convenience store robbery.
A jury in December found Reynolds guilty of interference with commerce by robbery and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime. The court, during sentencing, found that Reynolds had lied and obstructed justice when he testified in his own defense – including about his knowledge of the 36th Street gang that was a rival to the 44-Newsome gang that Pittman belonged to and one that Reynolds was alleged to have belonged to, according to a news release.
Another man, Eric Nixon, had been previously convicted of shooting Pittman in the head in connection to his 36th Street Bang Squad activity.
Pittman had previously pleaded guilty to three armed robberies and on June 9, 2020, he was sentenced to 21 years in prison, according to the news release.
U.S. District Court Judge Elizabeth W. Hanes sentenced Reynolds Tuesday. Multiple officials, including Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Craig Kailimai, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Washington Field Division; Eric D. English, Chief of Henrico County Police Division; Steve R. Drew, Chief of Newport News Police; Mark G. Solesky, Chief of Chesapeake Police; and Orin Gallop, Interim Chief of Hampton Police, made the announcement about Reynolds after his sentencing.
After pleading guilty to three armed robberies, on June 9, 2020, Pittman was sentenced to 21 years in prison for his role in the conspiracy.