Pharmacy & Bank Robberies Net Nashville Man Lengthy Federal Prison Sentence

NASHVILLE – A Nashville man convicted of robbing a pharmacy and a bank in 2020, will spend 13 years in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney Mark H. Wildasin for the Middle District of Tennessee. 

David Powell, aka Dawud Powell, 31, was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge William L. Campbell, Jr. 

Powell was initially arrested on a criminal complaint on August 25, 2020, and charged with the August 19^th robbery of the Walgreens Pharmacy on Nolensville Pike, in which he brandished a handgun and demanded that the pharmacist give him all of the Hydrocodone, Oxycodone, and Lortab.  The pharmacist complied and the robber placed the bottles of drugs in a white bag and fled the store.

The investigation by responding officers and detectives from the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department led them to the area of West Valley Drive where they observed an individual exiting a vehicle and carrying a white bag.  The individual ignored the officers’ commands to stop, and he fled, jumping a nearby fence.  Subsequent investigation by FBI agents identified Powell as the suspect. 

At the time of Powell’s arrest, he was in possession of four handguns, additional magazines and marijuana.  Two additional firearms were found in the vehicle he was occupying.  At the time of his arrest, Powell was on federal supervised release out of the Northern District of Illinois, where he was previously convicted for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Powell was also found to be responsible for the January 3, 2020, robbery of the Fifth-Third Bank on Old Hickory Boulevard, based on a DNA analysis of a pair of discarded pants that were found in the woods while searching for the suspect immediately following the robbery. 

In May, Powell pleaded guilty to armed pharmacy robbery; brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence; being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm; and bank robbery.

U.S. Attorney Wildasin commended the FBI and the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph P. Montminy, for their work in the investigation and prosecution of this case which removes another dangerous offender from the community for an extended period of time. 

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