Brooklyn Man Sentenced to Five Years in Prison For Gunpoint Robbery of Crown Heights Bodega

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, March 30, 2026

Brooklyn Man Sentenced to Five Years in Prison
For Gunpoint Robbery of Crown Heights Bodega

Bought Black Ski Mask and Used it to Rob Same Bodega Minutes Later

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a Brooklyn man has been sentenced to five years in prison for a gunpoint robbery in which he threatened to kill a bodega worker. The defendant stopped by the same bodega 20 minutes before the robbery and purchased a black ski mask he wore during the robbery.

District Attorney Gonzalez said, "This brazen defendant not only robbed a business that had just provided him a service, but he also put a hard-working employee in grave danger. We have zero tolerance for gun crimes in Brooklyn, where shootings and homicides continue to reach record lows, and will continue to vigorously prosecute those who use firearms and threaten our communities."

The District Attorney identified the defendant as Michael Bellevue, 26, of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. He was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Adam Perlmutter to five years in prison followed by five years' post-release supervision (prosecutors recommended a 12-year sentence). The defendant was convicted of one count of first-degree robbery on December 2, 2025, following a jury trial.

The District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, on January 15, 2024, the defendant purchased multiple items, including a black ski mask, from a bodega at 401 Schenectady Avenue in Crown Heights, where he was recognized by the victim as a regular, everyday customer. Roughly twenty minutes later, the defendant re-entered the bodega armed with a loaded black firearm and wearing the black ski mask. He pointed the firearm at the victim - the same bodega employee from whom he had purchased the ski mask - and demanded cash from the register, saying "give me the money or I'm going to kill you."

The defendant then pointed the firearm at the victim's head, according to the evidence, but the victim was able to grab the firearm, which then discharged. The victim dove out of the way, narrowly escaping being struck by a bullet. As the victim dove, the defendant reached over the counter, grabbed cash out of the open register, and fled.

The defendant was apprehended on January 19, 2024, following an investigation.

The District Attorney thanked KCDA Detective Investigators, as well as Supervising Paralegal James Morales and Paralegal Yazmin Pinkston-Hippolyte, of the District Attorney's Red Zone Trial Bureau, for their assistance on the case.

The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Carly Muth, of the District Attorney's Special Victims Bureau (formerly of the Red Zone Trial Bureau) and Senior Assistant District Attorney Amelia Digirolamo, of the Red Zone, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Andrea Orlando and Assistant District Attorney Rene Plattner, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and Assistant District Attorney Karla Watson, Red Zone Bureau Chief.

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