Following amended charges and an agreed recommendation, one of the suspects connected to 70-plus robberies in King County was sentenced to prison.
On Oct. 10, John Bailey-Johnson, 19, of Renton, was sentenced to a total of 27 months in prison following an agreed-upon sentence recommendation and amended charges. Bailey-Johnson was arrested on Oct. 11, 2024, in Auburn on State Route 18 and West Valley Highway South following a Bellevue robbery earlier that day. Seattle police also said he, along with three other teens, were connected to 78 robberies in King County.
Prosecutors initially charged Bailey-Johnson with first-degree robbery, theft of a motor vehicle and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. However, pursuant to plea negotiations and following a guilty plea, according to court documents, Bailey-Johnson’s charges were amended to first-degree robbery and second-degree vehicle prowling. His first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm charge remained the same.
King County Superior Court Judge Maureen McKee sentenced Bailey-Johnson to 27 months for first-degree attempted robbery, 27 months for unlawful possession of a firearm and one year in jail for second-degree vehicle prowling, however, the prowling sentence is suspended for 24 months. All of Bailey-Johnson’s sentences are to run at the same time, so the total time he will serve is 27 months, which is two years and three months. He will be on probation for two years.
With only the charges he was facing accounting for his offender score, Bailey-Johnson had an offender score of one, making his sentencing range for first-degree attempted robbery between 27 and 36 months. His sentencing range for first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm was between 21 and 27 months.
Details of the incidents
According to King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesperson Casey McNerthney, prosecutors received the two initial case referrals from the Seattle Police Department on Oct. 11, 2024.
The Seattle Police Department announced that the department arrested a total of five individuals associated with a crime spree, with cases in Seattle, Auburn, Kent, Bellevue, Redmond, Issaquah, Normandy Park, Des Moines and Tukwila.
At about 7 p.m. Oct. 10, 2024, in Auburn on State Route 18 and West Valley Highway South, members of the Seattle SWAT team arrested four teenagers, including Bailey-Johnson, a 16-year-old, a second 16-year-old and a 15-year-old,
Prosecutors charged Bailey-Johnson in connection with an Oct. 10, 2024, Bellevue carjacking before the arrest of the teenagers in Auburn that day. According to documents, in that incident, Bellevue police officers responded to a report of an armed carjacking at an apartment complex at approximately 1:12 p.m. that day.
According to court documents, two men told police that three teenagers approached them in the breezeway of their Bellevue apartment complex and engaged them in conversation before pulling out firearms and aiming the guns at both of the men.
One of the men stated to police that the teenagers threatened to “shoot me and my friend and my dog” and demanded the men’s belongings, stealing their wallets, jewelry, shoes, jacket, cellphones and vehicle keys to one of the men’s Mercedes.
Two of the suspects fled the scene in an SUV, and the third in the man’s Mercedes, according to the documents.
At the arrest of the four teenagers in Auburn, law enforcement recovered multiple firearms, including one located next to Bailey-Johnson after he attempted to flee on foot and hid in blackberry bushes.
“It appeared an effort was made to bury the firearm,” documents stated.
