Organizer of LI home invasions from prison sentenced to more time behind bars

The imprisoned lead organizer of a home-invasion crew was sentenced on Tuesday to 96 months of additional time behind bars for conspiring to commit robberies on Long Island and elsewhere in which force and threats were used against victims, federal prosecutors said.

Lamonte Johnson’s federal sentence will run consecutive to his two 20 years-to-life state prison sentences that he was already serving following his conviction for a 1986 double homicide, according to a release by the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said. .

“Lamonte Johnson was not deterred by prison walls from organizing armed home-invasion robberies, but today’s sentence ensures he has been held accountable for these vicious crimes, and that there is justice for his victims,” Breon Peace, Eastern District United States Attorney said the news release.

The sentence was handed down at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn by United States District Judge Raymond J. Dearie.

Johnson, 54, was convicted of the federal robbery charges following a one-week jury trial in May.

In March 2019 Johnson was serving consecutive 20 years-to life sentences in state prison for two murders when he organized a robbery crew with the goal of targeting Chinese American victims on Long Island, Queens and New Jersey, according to testimony at trial and detailed in public filings, the release said.

Johnson connected his half brother John Martin with Shi Zhen Lin, a former inmate who Johnson knew from prison. Lin’s role in the conspiracy was to identify Chinese American targets for the crew to rob.

Martin recruited other members to join the crew and together they committed or attempted to commit multiple robberies.

In May 2019, Corey Mobley, Brandon Daniels, and Martin committed a home-invasion robbery in Little Neck, Queens. During the robbery, Mobley and Daniels held a group of women and children at gunpoint and sexually assaulted one of the victims.

Johnson’s co-conspirators previously pleaded guilty to related offenses. Their prison sentences are: seven years for Lin, 10 years for Daniels, 15 years for Martin and 19 years for Mobley.