| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 1, 2007 WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/CAN |
SAN JOSE – United States Attorney Scott N. Schools announced that Jorge Lopez, 36, of Salinas, pleaded guilty, Tuesday, October 30, 2007 to robbery in violation of the Hobbs Act and to unrelated firearms charges. This guilty plea is the result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office, and the FBI.
In pleading guilty, Mr. Lopez admitted to the following:
On April 2, 2004, Ms. Young Kim, the owner/operator of The Corner Market, a combination convenience store, check cashing, and wire transmitter business in Salinas, California, had a business account at Community Bank of Salinas. At around 12:30 p.m., Ms. Kim cashed a check for $314,125, of which she received $300,000 in hundred dollar bills. Shortly after making the withdrawal, as she was returning to The Corner Market, Ms. Kim was assaulted and robbed of the monies on the street.
Lopez admitted that he had been notified about the large cash withdrawal by Christina Flores, who was one of the bank’s customer service managers at the time. On the morning of the robbery, Lopez attended a planning meeting with Jose Campos, Ramon Romero, and others. Campos, who was assigned the role of lookout, was stationed inside the Corner Market. Others were assigned to be lookouts just outside the market. Romero was assigned to rob Ms. Kim, while Lopez would be stationed nearby in Romero’s truck in order to facilitate his getaway after the robbery. Romero was arrested later that day, while Lopez escaped with the money. After the robbery, Lopez met with Campos, Flores, and the others and distributed hundred dollar bills as payment. He also used a portion of his share of the proceeds to buy, among other things, a Reinell pleasure boat.
An extensive federal investigation resulted in the April 6, 2006 indictment of Lopez, Flores and Campos.
Flores pleaded guilty on February 26, 2007. On June 7, 2007, she was sentenced to 24 months incarceration and ordered to serve a two-year term of supervised release following her release from prison and to pay $314,000.00 in restitution to the victim.
Campos pleaded guilty to the robbery and unrelated drug charges on April 10, 2007. On July 23, 2007, he was sentenced to 66 months imprisonment and ordered to serve three years supervised release and to pay $314,000.00 in restitution as well.
Romero was charged in state court for the robbery in 2004. He pleaded guilty and received two years imprisonment.
The sentencing of Mr. Lopez is scheduled for January 16, 2008, before United States District Judge Jeremy Fogel in San Jose. The maximum statutory penalty for robbery is 20 years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000.00, a 3 year supervised release term, restitution, and a $100 mandatory assessment. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the Court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
Thomas M. O’Connell is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case.
Further Information:
Case #:CR-06 00425 RMW
A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.
Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Natalya LaBauve at (415) 436-7055 or by email at Natalya.LaBauve@usdoj.gov.