Convenience store robberies earn man 25 years in federal prison
Jose Figueroa, the last of three defendants who robbed six Las Vegas-area convenience stores at gunpoint in 2010, was sentenced on Tuesday to 25 years in federal prison.
Figueroa, 30, of Las Vegas, pleaded guilty in April to charges of conspiracy, robbery and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.
According to federal prosecutors, Figueroa and co-defendant Raymond Juarez, 23, of Las Vegas robbed five 7-Eleven stores and one Green Valley Grocery store between in November and December 2010. The other co-defendant, Chase Sitton, 23, of Las Vegas, acted as a getaway driver in two of the robberies.
In each holdup, prosecutors alleged, Figueroa threatened the store clerk with a semiautomatic handgun and then either grabbed cash from the register or demanded it from the clerk, while Juarez stood at the door serving as a lookout. Figueroa shot a clerk in the stomach in one of the robberies.
Juarez and Sitton pleaded guilty to robbery and firearm charges and were sentenced to 19 years and seven years behind bars, respectively.
"This successful prosecution was part of our expanded Project Safe Neighborhoods program, which focuses on serial robberies and other armed robbery offenses," Nevada U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden said Tuesday. "Congress has created stiff mandatory sentences for use of a firearm in a violent crime, and this office will actively use these tools to get defendants using guns off our streets for long terms of imprisonment."
The investigation was conducted by the Metropolitan Police Department and FBI as part of the Safe Streets Task Force.
Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.
