Three Indicted in Robbery and Murder of Woonsocket Gas Station Manager
| U.S. Attorney’s Office December 14, 2010 |
PROVIDENCE, RI—U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha announced today that a federal grand jury has returned a three-count indictment charging three individuals with participating in a conspiracy and the armed robbery and murder of David D. Main of Woonsocket. Mr. Main was chased, robbed, and shot to death at close range as he approached the doorstep of a Woonsocket branch office of Citizens Bank on September 20, 2010. Mr. Main was attempting to enter the bank to deposit receipts belonging to a Shell gas station that he managed.
Jason W. Pleau, 33, of Providence, R.I.; Jose A. Santiago, 33, of Springfield, Mass.; and Kelley M. Lajoie, 32, of Springfield, Mass., are each charged with one count each of Hobbs Act conspiracy to commit robbery affecting commerce; Hobbs Act robbery affecting commerce; and using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, causing the death of another, such killing constituting murder.
Hobbs Act conspiracy and Hobbs Act robbery are punishable by maximum sentences of 20 years in prison. Use of a firearm while committing a crime of violence, thereby causing the death of another, such killing constituting murder, is punishable by a maximum sentence of life imprisonment or death.
The indictment also names each defendant in a Notice of Special Findings. The Notice states that each defendant is over the age of 18; intentionally engaged in an act of violence knowing that the act created a grave risk of death to Mr. Main; and intentionally engaged in an act of violence knowing that the act created a grave risk of death to one or more persons in addition to Mr. Main. The Notices of Special Findings are pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3591 and 18 U.S.C. § 3592.
Protocol for capital cases is contained in the U.S. Attorney’s Manual and may be viewed on the Department of Justice’s website at http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/10mcrm.htm.
An indictment is merely an allegation and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The case is being prosecuted by Deputy Criminal Chief - Assistant U.S. Attorney Adi Goldstein and Assistant U.S. Attorney William J. Ferland.
The matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Woonsocket Police, and Rhode Island State Police, with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Service and the Rhode Island National Guard.