Four men who participated in the pistol-whip series of robberies on Regents Road near UCSD and elsewhere were sentenced Sept. 19 to terms ranging from six to 11 years in prison.
The robberies were noteworthy for four victims being hit over the head with a gun and other victims being ordered at gunpoint to lay on the ground while their personal items, such as wallets and cell phones, were taken.
The oldest, Joseph Ragland, 27, received 11 years in prison. Jamarious Porche, 24, and Michael McGinnis, 19, were sentenced to 10 years and eight months. Askia Muhamad Toure, 21, received six years and eight months from San Diego Superior Court Judge Jeff Fraser, who gave all four men credit for serving 604 days in jail.
Ragland was ordered to pay nearly $8,000 to the state victims compensation fund, while Porche and McGinnis were ordered to pay $6,929. Toure, who was involved in a smaller number of robberies, was ordered to pay $866 to the fund.
The four men pleaded guilty to all charges of robbery, conspiracy and receiving stolen property in nine incidents in which 14 people were accosted. Not every defendant participated in each hold-up. One or two robbers approached victims in the series that began March 30, 2013 and ended with their arrests on April 12, 2013. A man and a woman were held up at 7600 Regents Road on April 9, 2013 and were robbed of a backpack, cellphone, and other items. Other victims were robbed near San Diego State University and the Rolando, University Heights and Mission Village neighborhoods. One victim lost a computer and another an iPod, but most of the property was recovered by San Diego police, along with the victims’ identification.