Portsmouth Man Convicted in a Series of Robberies
| U.S. Attorney’s Office March 23, 2012 |
NORFOLK, VA—Jonathan Ray Allen, age 27, of Portsmouth, Virginia, was convicted today by a Norfolk federal jury on nine charges of robbery, nine charges of use of a firearm during a crime of violence, and one charge of conspiracy to commit robbery.
Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the announcement after the verdicts were accepted by United States Senior District Court Judge Raymond A. Jackson. Allen is scheduled to be sentenced on June 28, 2012 and faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 207 years in prison.
According to court records and evidence at trial, Allen and several co-conspirators robbed nine stores throughout the Hampton Roads area between May and June 2011. The stores included various check cashing stores, a Family Dollar store, and a Foot Locker shoe store. Allen and his co-conspirators entered these stores while brandishing firearms and demanded money from the employees. During some of the robberies, employees were threatened with death if they did not comply. After most of the robberies, the employees were forced into a back room of the store and instructed not to move until they counted to 100, allowing Allen and his co-conspirators the time needed to make their escape. The police identified Allen as the robber of these various stores when the employees identified his picture in photo lineups. Allen was also identified during the trial by 17 eyewitnesses and victims.
This case was investigated by the Norfolk FBI. Assistant United States Attorney William D. Muhr and Special Assistant United States Attorney Amy E. Cross prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.