Three Dominican Republic citizens who reside in Lawrence, Massachusetts, have been charged with federal offenses related to their alleged involvement in the gunpoint robbery of a delivery truck containing Apple products in Manchester, Connecticut.
David Sullivan, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and P.J. O’Brien, special agent in charge of the New Haven Division of the FBI, announced the charges against Jose Miguel Mercado, 32, Jean Gonzalez Paulino, 31, and Daury Rodriguez Contreras, 22.
The trio stole approximately $316,753 in Apple phones, tablets, and other accessories during the robbery, and approximately $1,000 in cash from the driver, authorities allege.
On Sept. 3, a federal grand jury in New Haven returned an indictment charging each defendant with conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act Robbery, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years; Hobbs Act Robbery, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years; carrying, using, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, an offense that carries a mandatory consecutive term of imprisonment of at least seven years; and interstate transportation of stolen property, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.
As alleged in court documents and statements made in court, at approximately 7 a.m. on March 25, Mercado, Gonzalez, and Rodriguez, committed a gunpoint robbery of the driver of a delivery truck after he stopped at a commuter lot in Manchester before a scheduled delivery of a shipment of Apple products to an Apple store in South Windsor, Connecticut.
After the theft, Mercado, Gonzalez, and Rodriguez traveled to a location in Wethersfield where they discarded clothing, a license plate, and other items into a dumpster.
They then traveled to the Bronx, New York, where they unloaded items stolen during the robbery. Many of the stolen items were subsequently registered by New York residents and activated. It is further alleged that a vehicle used in the robbery had been rented by Gonzalez in Massachusetts through Turo, a peer-to-peer car sharing platform. After the vehicle was returned on March 26, the vehicle’s owners found a box containing an Apple charging cable that appeared to be new.
The three alleged perpetrators were arrested on federal criminal complaints on Aug. 21.
Mercado, Gonzalez, and Rodriguez, who are lawful permanent residents of the U.S., have been detained since their arrests.
Mercado is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon in Hartford federal court. Gonzalez and Rodriguez were arraigned and entered not guilty pleas on Sept. 11.
The ongoing investigation is being led by the FBI and the Connecticut State Police, with the assistance of the Manchester Police Department, the Wethersfield Police Department, the New York Police Department, the Lawrence (Mass.) Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police, and the Westchester County (N.Y.) Department of Public Safety’s Real Time Crime Unit. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey M. Stone.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative designed to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations.
