Midlands serial robber who tossed clothes away after heists found guilty, faces 49 years

The Midlands serial armed robber had a pattern, an FBI special agent testified. He would stand in line, ask for candy or cigarettes, pull a gun and demand money.

Then, the robber would exit the store, walk slowly away, discarding his holdup clothes and, once well away from the heist, would get into a beat-up black Saturn IOS and drive away, testified FBI agent Brandon Lackey in federal court Wednesday. Discarded clothes included knit caps, jackets and t-shirts.

Later Wednesday, after a non-jury trial in federal court, U.S. Judge Mary Lewis found Deveon Belk guilty of robbing seven Midlands stores — in Columbia, Lexington County and Richland County.

In all, Belk robbed some 15 stores during a spree in 2020, prosecutors said, but they only put on their seven best cases, all committed in November of that year.

DNA found on some of the clothes that Belk threw away was linked to him and was introduced by prosecutors during the trial.

A major break in the case came when Richland and Lexington county law enforcement were able to link the black Saturn car to an apartment. Officers got a warrant to search the apartment the car was linked to and found the handgun the robber was believed to have used during the robberies.

Belk, 36, a stocky man of medium height who wore an orange jump suit during his trial, will be sentenced at a later unscheduled date, but he is facing at least 49 years in federal prison: seven of the charges he was convicted on were brandishing a firearm while committing a crime of violence, each of which calls for a consecutive seven-year sentence.

Since the stores Belk robbed were scattered across the Midlands, local law enforcement called on the FBI to stitch the cases together.

“We requested the FBI to get involved once we realized how many robberies he had committed,” said Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott. “It was a complex case that involved numerous robberies and taking it to the federal system helped get the sentence he’ll deserve.”

In all, 37 witnesses testified during the trial. They included clerks from the various stores, and law enforcement officers from the FBI, the ATF and the Richland County and Lexington County sheriff’s departments.

In addition to DNA from the clothes processed by Richland County Sheriff’s Department, evidence put on at trial included the surveillance videos from the stores and neighboring structures, DNA, license plate photos and witness testimony from the victims.

Prosecutors were Elliott Daniels, Lamar Fyall and Ariyana Gore. Belk’s defense attorney was Victor Li. Li declined comment.

Stores Belk was convicted of robbing were a CVS, a Wendy’s, three Dollar Generals, a Family Dollar and an SKS Mart, according to trial evidence.

This story was originally published November 9, 2023 at 11:35 AM.