Lancaster Man Sentenced to Almost Nine Years in Prison for Robbing a Chester County Convenience Store at Gunpoint

PHILADELPHIA - United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Micael Dilone Rojas Diaz, 25, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 106 months in prison, three years' supervised release, a $1,000 fine, and restitution in the amount of $518.61 by United States District Judge John M. Gallagher yesterday for the armed robbery of a Chester County convenience store in February 2024.

The defendant was charged by indictment in May of 2024 with one count of robbery which interferes with interstate commerce (Hobbs Act robbery) and one count of using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. He pleaded guilty to both charges in June of this year.

As detailed in court filings and admitted to by the defendant, in the early hours of February 10, 2024, Rojas and his co-defendant, Ashley Santos-Rodriguez, both wearing masks, entered the Turkey Hill convenience store on the 3000 block of Horseshoe Pike in Honey Brook, Pennsylvania. One person, a 59-year-old clerk, was in the store at the time.

Rojas pointed a loaded .40 caliber semiautomatic pistol at the clerk's face and demanded money, as Santos started grabbing cigarettes from the racks. The robbers left the store with approximately $124 and some 40 packs of Newport cigarettes, fleeing the scene in a vehicle. Police apprehended them in a car stop approximately 20 minutes later and recovered the stolen cash and cigarettes.

This case was investigated by the Pennsylvania State Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas M. Zaleski.