Philadelphia Man Pleads Guilty His Role in a Robbery Spree Targeting Latino Businesses in North Philadelphia One Year Ago

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that Acia Moore, 20, of Philadelphia, PA, pleaded guilty today to two counts of attempted Hobbs Act robbery, one count of Hobbs Act robbery, and one count of carrying and using a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence. Moore and co-defendant, Omar White-Davis, 29, of Philadelphia, were charged by Indictment with these offenses in connection with multiple armed robberies of businesses in the Feltonville and Juniata sections of North Philadelphia, including Café Tinto restaurant on Wyoming Avenue, which was targeted twice in two days.

According to the Indictment, the defendants attempted to rob and did rob a variety of small businesses, both together and separately, stealing approximately $3,100 dollars total between November 21 and December 6, 2021. The incidents detailed are as follows:

• On November 21, 2021, White-Davis attempted to rob the Ariel Grocery, 2000 block of E. Pacific Street;
• On December 1, 2021, Moore robbed the Al-Molhem Store, 400 block of E. Wyoming Avenue;
• On December 2, 2021, White-Davis and Moore robbed Café Tinto, 100 block of E. Wyoming Avenue;
• On December 4, 2021, Moore returned to Café Tinto approximately 48 hours later and robbed it again;
• On December 6, 2021, Moore robbed the Leslie Mini Market, 4200 block of Bodine Street; and,
• Also on December 6, 2021, approximately an hour later, Moore and White-Davis attempted to rob the Hernandez Food and Deli Market, 4500 block of D Street. 

“These defendants robbed small local businesses in the Feltonville and Juniata neighborhoods," said U.S. Attorney Romero.  "They were so brazen that they targeted the same business twice in two days.  We will remain dedicated to making our neighborhoods safer, and to working with our local, state and federal partners to identify, investigate, apprehend, and prosecute violent individuals like these defendants."

“Moore and his co-defendant went on a crime spree, targeting neighborhood businesses six times in just over two weeks and threatening their victims at gunpoint to terrify them into compliance,” said Jacqueline Maguire, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division. “Now that they’ve admitted to their crimes, they'll be off the street and not able to menace innocent people who are just trying to make a living.”

After pleading guilty, Moore is set to be sentenced in April 10, 2023 before the Honorable Gerald A. McHugh.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.   The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Philadelphia Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert E. Eckert.