Four men from the Baltimore area are facing an indictment charging them with posing as police officers, kidnapping three people, and terrorizing their victims with weapons, including a blow torch during a string of attempted robberies.
On Thursday, a federal grand jury returned a 12-count indictment, which stems from three kidnappings the men allegedly plotted and carried out during a four-month span last year, with the focus of robbing either the victim or their employees.
Dennis Allen Hairston, 32, of Windsor Mill; Donte Davon Stanley, 31, of Rosedale; Davonne Tramont Dorsey, 28, of Gwynn oak; and Franklin Jay Smith, 32, of Catonsville. All 5 men face charges including conspiracy, carjacking, and multiple other offenses.
The men are accused of orchestrating the kidnappings of three people from May 2021 through August 2021, two of whom worked for check-cashing businesses.
The group of men allegedly impersonated police using emergency lights, police vests, and badges before kidnapping the victim, blindfolding them, and using force or threat of force to coerce them into giving up valuables or information.
According to the indictment, the men trailed an employee of a check-cashing business, stopped over, and removed her from her car at gunpoint on May 5. She was handcuffed, blindfolded, and placed in the back of a vehicle, where her attackers burned her with a blowtorch in an effort to rob her workplace.
More than a week later, the men allegedly pulled over a man in Edgewood, kidnapped him at gunpoint, duct-taped his eyes and mouth shut, and burned him with a blowtorch to get money and other belongings from him.
In addition, the group of men is accused of kidnapping a second woman at gunpoint in early August as she left the check-cashing business where she worked. She was blindfolded and threatened with a gun by her kidnappers, who wanted to get into her work so they could rob the business.
Smith, Dorsey, and Stanley, who are in custody on related state charges, are set to make their initial appearances in federal court on May 2. A first appearance has not yet been set for Hairston, who is in federal custody in Pennsylvania on unrelated charges.
Each defendant from the group of men faces up to life in prison for the kidnapping charges if convicted, up to 25 years for the carjacking charges, a maximum of 20 years for the robbery charges, and a mandatory minimum of seven years on the firearms charges.
