Durham Crips Gang Member Gets 19 Years In Prison For 5th Robbery Conviction
GREENSBORO – A Durham gang member, 28-year-old Devonte Daquan Cozart, was sentenced on Monday (April 11) to 228 months – or 19 years – in prison, after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit robbery and two counts of felon in possession of a firearm by an armed career criminal, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. This was Cozart’s fifth criminal conviction.
On Dec. 8, Cozart pleaded guilty to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and two counts of felon in possession of a firearm by an armed career criminal. They said he also agreed to forfeit two handguns.
A co-defendant, Tori Demarco Bumpers, pleaded guilty on Sept. 8 to the same charges, according to the USDOJ. His sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 4 in Winston-Salem.
According to court records, Cozart committed the robbery with Bumpers on March 14, 2022, as a member of the Eight Trey Gangster Crips street gang.
Just before dark that day, documents said the two of them left the area of Glenbrook Drive in Cozart’s gray Honda Accord. At about 9:30 p.m., they said Bumpers robbed a vape shop on West Club Boulevard in Durham at gunpoint. He took cash, cigarettes, a “Cookies”-brand backpack, and other items before leaving the store and running away with another man, according to court records.
Around 9:50 p.m., reports said two masked men with dark clothing robbed someone waiting for a ride to work. Police said one man’s height and hair are consistent with Cozart’s. According to police reports, one of the robbers got in the victim’s face and pointed a gun at him Then the robbers proceeded to steal the victim’s cash, electronics, and Oakley backpack.
At about 10:10 p.m., court records said Bumpers robbed the clerk of a convenience store on Fayetteville Road in Durham at gunpoint, demanding cash and cigarettes. Bumpers then left the store and ran across the parking lot to a car that was waiting for him.
At 10:30 p.m., police said they stopped Cozart’s car on East Club Boulevard. Officers said they found Cozart in the driver’s seat, Bumpers in the front passenger seat, and a black mask resting between Cozart’s leg and the center console. Police took both men out of the car and put them in handcuffs. After searching the car, they said they found items from each of the robberies and a loaded .45 handgun.
On May 12, the police department said investigators executed a search warrant to arrest Cozart on federal charges stemming from the robberies. They found Cozart in his Durham home with a 9mm handgun. A fingerprint on the gun’s magazine has since been identified as Cozart’s right thumb, according to police.
The previous year on April 8, investigators said they found Cozart in a Durham apartment near a .357 magnum revolver. Police said he admitted the gun belonged to him.
According to court documents, at the time of the offenses, Cozart had previously been convicted of:
- Common law robbery and breaking and entering on May 7, 2014
- Common law robbery on Feb. 5, 2015
- Common law robbery and conspiracy to commit common law robbery on March 24, 2015
- Attempted common law robbery on April 28, 2018
- Common law robbery and conspiracy to commit common law robbery on May 1, 2018
He had also been wanted by the City of Durham for robbing a man and a woman on the 2500 block of South Roxboro Street at gunpoint in 2018.
Cozart was sentenced to multiple terms of imprisonment exceeding one year in connection to these offenses, according to court records. He was also legally barred from possessing a gun because of his status as a felon.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Raleigh-Durham Safe Streets Task Force (SSTF), the Durham Police Department, and the Durham County Sheriff’s Office. The lead investigator was an FBI Task Force Officer from the Durham County Sheriff’s Office.