Former deputy U.S. marshal sentenced for Yuba City drug robbery

BY DENNY WALSH
dwalsh@sacbee.com

They were out-of-towners, and that was one key to their undoing.
Three men from Florida – Clorenzo Griffin, then a deputy U.S. marshal, Andre Jamison and Rodney Rackley – robbed 24 pounds of marijuana from three drug dealers at gunpoint in a Yuba City motel parking lot Oct. 11, 2014.
Following the brazen daylight stickup, and with Griffin at the wheel, the three blew through a red light at a high rate of speed just around the corner from the California Highway Patrol’s Yuba City office. With a CHP officer in pursuit, the robbers abandoned their rented Jeep Patriot, and Griffin unwittingly ran straight to a building housing the Sutter County Sheriff’s Office.
A sheriff’s deputy fired a warning shot at Griffin, who dropped his gun and was taken into custody by the CHP officer. The other two were quickly cornered behind a dumpster and arrested.

On Wednesday in Sacramento federal court, Griffin, who pleaded guilty in December to plotting an interstate robbery, was the last of the three to be sentenced to prison by U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller.
She handed out a 10-year term behind bars for Griffin, who was off duty at the time of the robbery and has been in jail since his arrest. He was fired by the U.S. Marshals Service after he was arrested. He primarily worked escorting prisoners to and from court in Miami and Fort Lauderdale and guarding them in the courtroom.​

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