ST. CLAIR COUNTY, Ill. – One of three men linked to a 2017 armed robbery of a Casino Queen in East St. Louis, which left a security guard wounded, has been sentenced to nearly half a century in prison.
A judge sentenced Daryl S. Muhammad, 48, of Marietta, Georgia, to 49 years in federal prison on Friday. He was convicted last November of armed robbery and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon.
Investigators say Muhammad and two others entered the Casino Queen around 3 a.m. on Sept. 17, 2017, armed with rifles. The trio got away with $47,000, while an unarmed security guard was shot during the incident.
The investigation eventually led Illinois State Police to the arrest of Muhammad in January 2019 in Cobb County, Georgia.
“This was more than a robbery—it was a violent assault on the community with military-style rifles, which is why our office cross-designated one of our prosecutors to support the great work done by the States Attorney’s Office,” said U.S. Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft for the Southern District of Illinois via a news release. “The community wins when state and federal authorities combine efforts to take out the most violent criminals.”
Illinois State Police informed the St. Louis Post-Dispatch last November that the other two men involved can no longer be prosecuted because a statute of limitations has expired.