FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


JUVENILE OFFENDER SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR ROBBERIES

May 4, 2007

State Attorney Steve Meadows announces the plea and sentence, in Bay County Circuit Court, of Markus Akeem Brown, to 15 years in prison.

Brown, 17, entered pleas to robbery with a firearm, robbery, robbery with a weapon, possession of cannabis with intent to sell, resisting an officer without violence, resisting arrest with violence, escape, giving a false name, and carrying a concealed weapon. The offenses were committed while Brown was 15 and 16 years of age.

The November 8, 2005, robbery with a firearm, of McDonalds on Harrison Avenue, was captured on a video surveillance system. Brown had been an employee of that restaurant and was known to the employees.

Law enforcement officers had alleged that Brown was a member of a local gang.

Circuit Court Judge Dedee S. Costello ordered the prison sentence to be followed by five years probation. Florida law requires that a prisoner serve at least 85 per cent of his sentence.