Suspects charged in armed robbery of Canton Wingstop
Two men are facing federal charges in the Sept. 29 armed robbery of a Canton Township Wingstop store, with investigators saying a GPS tether, surveillance footage and discarded clothing helped them identify the suspects within hours.
Martell Laron Franklin, 33, and Devonte Jaier Ross, 32, are charged with Hobbs Act robbery and possessing a firearm during a crime of violence, according to a criminal complaint filed Oct. 2 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
In the criminal complaint, a Canton police officer assigned to the FBI Detroit Violent Crimes Task Force said that officers were called to the Wingstop on Ford Road at about 1:40 a.m. Sept. 29 for an armed robbery in progress. Dispatchers described the suspects as two Black men wearing masks and dark clothing and armed with firearms.
According to the complaint, surveillance video shows one suspect alleged to be Ross entering the restaurant first, pointing a handgun at employees and following them toward the kitchen as they ran. One or more employees tripped while trying to get away.
The second suspect, alleged to be Franklin, then entered and walked "purposefully toward the back of the restaurant," according to the complaint. Ross is accused of holding one employee at gunpoint while another opened the safe. Franklin is accused of retrieving a bag from a storage area and helping fill it with cash and other items.
Investigators said that as officers surrounded the restaurant and apartment complex, they saw a silver Buick LeSabre with two people inside leaving the area. Officers did not stop the car because they had no information connecting it to the robbery, according to court documents. Police later learned the car was registered to Franklin's brother.
Investigators used tether data from Michigan Department of Corrections which showed Franklin at the Wingstop address. Franklin is on a lifetime tether following previous criminal convictions according to authorities. Investigators said a search of Flock license plate cameras showed the location and time of the Buick at Wingstop matching Franklin’s tether data.
Around noon Sept. 29, officers said they found a gray sweatshirt with a blue logo and a blue hat in a wooded area near the restaurant, matching clothing the suspect wore in the video. Inside the hat were gloves and two face masks, the complaint says.
Franklin's tether data also placed him near Elmhurst and Cloverdale, where police said they found black latex gloves and two Huntington Bank deposit envelopes. The envelopes held Wingstop receipts, dated two days before the robbery, that listed employees' names, according to the complaint.
Franklin was arrested shortly after 1:15 p.m. Sept. 29 near the Buick.
Investigators said they then used Franklin's tether data to trace his movements before the robbery. The data report and eyewitness identification placed the suspects together at a Detroit transitional housing facility prior to the Canton robbery. Ross, who is on parole for armed robbery, felony firearm and carjacking convictions, was arrested just before 11 p.m. Sept. 29.
A Hobbs Act robbery conviction carries up to 20 years in federal prison per count. A separate federal firearm charge carries a mandatory prison term that must be served in addition to any other sentence.
