Two gang members from South Los Angeles were sentenced to 12 years in federal prison on Feb. 14 for committing an armed robbery last March on the crowded patio of Il Pastaio restaurant in Beverly Hills.

The defendants, Malik Lamont Powell, 21, and Khai McGhee, 18, had been in custody since last May after being arrested by authorities with the Beverly Hills Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation. The suspects were accused of robbing a man of a Richard Mille wristwatch valued at $500,000 on the patio, and firing a shot during a struggle with the victim, injuring a female restaurant patron. United States District Judge John F. Walter sentenced Powell and McGhee, and called the crime “outrageous and unacceptable.”

“These types of robberies, which are becoming more and more prevalent in our community, have to stop,” Walter said.

Both defendants pleaded guilty last September to three federal felony counts of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, interference with commerce by robbery, and using and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. A third defendant who participated in the robbery – Marquise Anthony Gardon, 41, of South Los Angeles – pleaded guilty last September to two felony counts of interference with commerce by robbery and using and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. Gardon, who police said was a lookout and getaway driver during the crime, is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 28.

The three defendants – each of whom is a documented member of the Rollin’ 30s Crips street gang – drove to Beverly Hills on March 4, 2021, with the intention of committing a robbery, federal prosecutors said. After looking for potential victims, the defendants targeted a man seated on Il Pastaio’s patio. The suspects fled with the victim’s watch but left the gun at the scene. DNA evidence and security camera footage linked the suspects to the crime, authorities said.

“[Powell] and his co-conspirators’ decision to hold a loaded firearm to [a victim’s] head is especially troubling,” prosecutors stated in a sentencing memorandum. “This type of robbery where firearms are brandished and discharged leaves severe, lasting trauma that victims carry with them their entire lives.”