Photo: ullstein bild
Photo: Getty Images
A Portland man was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison today for murdering a Milwaukie, Oregon man in his home amid a violent robbery spree that spanned several months and targeted at least six local businesses.
Keandre Dshawn LaMarcus Brown, 27, was sentenced to 360 months in federal prison and three years’ supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $29,991 in restitution to multiple victims.
“Gun violence continues to be one of the greatest public safety threats in our community,” said Steven T. Mygrant, Chief of the Narcotics and Criminal Enterprises Unit of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon. “Keandre Brown and his accomplices’ string of armed robberies across the Portland area placed many innocent community members at significant risk.”
“Within months of completing a five-year prison sentence for attempted robbery, Keandre Brown went on a three-month crime spree, affecting over 20 victims, and brutally killing one. He used weapons, drugs, and fear to wreak havoc on our streets,” said Aubree M. Schwartz, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Portland Field Office. “Today’s significant sentence removes this dangerous individual from our community and highlights the tenacity of the FBI and our law enforcement partners to identify and apprehend criminals like him who threaten public safety.”
“I was among the group of first responders who arrived on the scene of Keandre Brown’s home invasion robbery after his victim called 911 screaming and begging for his life. After gunshots rang out on the line with our dispatchers, we saw firsthand the tragic result of this brutal murder,” said Luke Strait, Chief of the Milwaukie Police Department. “In the years that have followed, investigators from Milwaukie Police, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office have worked tirelessly on what would become one of the most exhaustive investigations and prosecutions our region has seen in the last decade. Our criminal justice system has worked diligently and effectively to bring justice for this victim, his family, and the entire Milwaukie community.”
According to court documents, in the summer of 2016, Brown teamed up with an accomplice, Keith Bryon Woody Jr., 31, also of Portland, to engage in a series of armed robberies targeting multiple businesses in and around Portland. On August 2, 2016, the pair entered and robbed Paulsen’s Pharmacy on NE Sandy Boulevard in Portland. Both brandished firearms during the robbery, threatened numerous employees and customers, including by pointing a gun at the pharmacy manager’s head, and made off with controlled substances, cash, and several personal property items including wallets, credit cards, and phones.
Two weeks later, on August 13, 2016, Brown and Woody entered and robbed Fairley’s Pharmacy on NE Sandy Boulevard in Portland. The pair again brandished firearms, ordered employees and customers to the floor at gunpoint and zip-tied them, and proceeded to steal eight pill bottles that together contained approximately 1,600 Oxycodone pills.
Brown’s spree continued on August 31, 2016, when he and two accomplices entered and robbed the Lighthouse Deli on SE César Chávez Boulevard in Portland. Brown and his accomplices brandished firearms, zip-tied an employee, and stole cash as well as several wallets, credit cards, and phones from nearby employees and customers.
On September 5, 2016, after several days of planning, Brown, Woody, and multiple accomplices carried out a home invasion robbery targeting a Milwaukie man they believed possessed large quantities of cocaine and cash. The group forcibly entered the residence through a rear door and confronted the homeowner, who quickly retreated into a bathroom and called 911. Brown and Woody, each armed with semi-automatic firearms, positioned themselves outside the bathroom door where the homeowner had barricaded himself, while their accomplices searched the residence. Brown and Woody then fired their respective handguns multiple times at the bathroom door, penetrating the door and killing the homeowner.
Following the home invasion robbery and murder, Brown, with the assistance of others, carried out two additional armed robberies on a single day. On October 18, 2016, Brown and an accomplice entered and robbed a Plaid Pantry convenience store on NE Sandy Boulevard in Portland. The pair made off with cash, tobacco products, and various personal property items. Later the same day, Brown and an accomplice entered and robbed a Red Roof Inn on NE 82nd Avenue in Portland. The pair zip-tied an employee and threatened her to turn over cash but left empty handed after finding an empty cash register.
Investigators later connected Brown and Woody to an additional armed robbery of a pharmacy in Vancouver, Washington, on August 22, 2016, during which they threatened employees at gunpoint and made off with Oxycodone pills.
On October 20, 2016, U.S. Marshals arrested Brown and Woody traveling together in a vehicle. Both possessed firearms at the time of their arrest. Soon after, Brown was transferred to Clark County, Washington to face trial on charges of first-degree robbery, second-degree assault, and unlawful possession of a firearm. Brown was convicted on September 11, 2017, and later sentenced to 360 months in Washington State prison.
On November 4, 2020, a federal grand jury in Portland returned a multi-count indictment charging Brown, Woody, and several other accomplices for conspiring with one another to interfere with commerce by threats or violence, possessing firearms in furtherance of crimes of violence, and causing death through the use of a firearm.
Later, on July 11, 2023, in a separate criminal case, Brown was charged by criminal information with intentionally killing while engaged in drug trafficking. The same day, Brown pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiring with others to interfere with commerce by threats or violence and intentionally killing while engaged in drug trafficking, resolving both of his federal cases.
This case was investigated by the FBI and Milwaukie Police Department with assistance from the Portland Police Bureau, Oregon State Police Crime Lab, Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office, and Vancouver Police Department. It was prosecuted by Lewis S. Burkhart and Thomas H. Edmonds, Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the District of Oregon.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
This prosecution is the result of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the U.S. by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
Source: U.S. Attorney for Oregon