Rockford man faces life in prison, convicted of 2015 violent crime spree

ROCKFORD — A man has been convicted of federal robbery and firearm charges in connection with a series of violent retail store robberies that took place in October through November of 2015 in Rockford.

After a seven-day trial in U.S. District Court in Rockford, a jury convicted Rickey Claybron, 35, of Rockford, on one count of conspiracy to commit robbery, three counts of robbery, one count of attempted robbery, two counts of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, and two counts of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.

Claybron faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $2.25 million fine when he is sentenced next year.

According to evidence presented, Claybron and his co-conspirators conducted four violent robberies:

• Oct. 28, 2015: H&A Tobacco, 1623 Broadway in Rockford. Claybron entered the store, pointed his gun at a clerk, and ordered the clerk and a customer to get on the ground. Cash and multiple cartons of cigarettes were stolen from the store, along with the clerk’s personal belongings.
• Nov. 2, 2015: Advance Auto, 3019 Auburn St. in Rockford. During the robbery, a store employee was ordered at gunpoint to lay on the ground while another employee was ordered to open the cash registers. One employee was struck in the side of the face with a gun and later shot at when he ran from the store. The robbers stole cash from the store and from one of the employees.
• Nov. 5, 2015: Zake Convenience, 824 7th St. in Rockford. In this attempted robbery, Claybron entered the store first, pointing a gun directly at store clerks and then reaching behind a partition waving his gun. When Claybron was unable to gain access to the cash register, he and the other robbers fled the store.
• Nov. 13, 2015: Shell Express, 3003 11th St. in Rockford. Claybron pointed a sawed-off shotgun at customers while a co-conspirator, DEANDRE R. HAYWOOD of Rockford, pointed a gun at store employees and grabbed cigarettes and cash from the registers. Haywood then shot one of the employees in the back while Claybron struck an employee in the head with his shotgun.

Haywood pleaded guilty to armed robberies earlier this year and was sentenced to 26 1/2 years in prison.

A third co-conspirator, DARNELL LEAVY of Rockford, also pleaded guilty earlier this year and was sentenced to 11 1/2 years in prison.