Three South Florida men convicted of kidnapping couple, bank robbery in home invasion

Three South Florida men face up to life in prison after being convicted of invading a Miramar home and holding a couple at gunpoint in a plot to rob $20,000 from them, federal authorities say.

After a two-week trial, a Fort Lauderdale federal jury found Kejuan Brandon Campbell, Antonio Charles James Jr. and Dionte Alexander-Wilcox guilty on one count of conspiracy to kidnap, two counts of kidnapping, three counts of bank robbery, and three counts of carrying a firearm during a crime of violence. They are scheduled for sentencing in late April before U.S. District Judge James Cohn.

At trial, federal prosecutors said that on Oct. 11, 2020, Campbell, James, and Alexander-Wilcox invaded the home because the couple’s estranged nephew had stolen $20,000 from Campbell earlier that day. Wearing masks and gloves, the three men brandished firearms as they forced their way into the couple’s residence, assaulted the husband, and detained the victims on the floor by pointing guns at them, according to trial evidence.

The men ransacked the home and took the victims’ phones and a wallet, prosecutors said. Using the wife’s telephone, they tried using CashApp to transfer $20,000 to themselves, but the transactions were declined. Campbell then forced the wife to travel with him to multiple stores to try to cash $20,000 in checks. The other two defendants kept the husband at home, holding him at gunpoint, evidence showed.

After the stores declined to process the checks, the men stayed overnight at the victims’ home and planned to obtain the money from the couple’s bank the next morning, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

During their overnight stay, the defendants cooked, drank alcohol, and smoked marijuana, prosecutors said. They kept a gun pointed at the couple inside and did not allow them to speak to each other. At one point, with gun in hand, Alexander-Wilcox forced the wife into a bedroom and raped her, according to trial evidence.

The next morning, Campbell forced the wife to withdraw $20,000 from ATMs. After Campbell brought the wife home, the three men filled a couple of suitcases with the victims’ jewelry, prosecutors said. They also gathered items on which they might have left their DNA.

The men threatened to kill the victims if they called the police, locked them in a bathroom and took their house key, prosecutors said. They left with the cash.

The case was investigated by the FBI with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and local police in South Florida.