NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

JOHN F. WOOD

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

SEPTEMBER 24, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KC MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO ARMED ROBBERY

            KANSAS CITY, Mo. – John F. Wood, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to robbing an Independence, Mo., convenience store at gunpoint.

            Mandingo Sanders, 29, of Kansas City, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Scott O. Wright this morning to using a firearm during a crime of violence.

            Sanders admitted that he and another person – an unidentified minor – were carrying firearms when they walked into Rozy’s Convenience Store, 17111 E. 24 Hwy., Independence, on Jan. 19, 2008. Sanders was carrying a rifle and the other person was armed with a shotgun. A third accomplice was waiting as a lookout outside the store.

            Sanders demanded that the two store clerks give him all the money out of the cash register. When one of the clerks opened the cash register, Sanders reached into the register and removed the money. As they left the store, Sanders dropped some of the cash and, while picking it up, fired his rifle. They fled the store on foot.

            Under federal statutes, Sanders is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole, up to life in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

            This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christina Y. Tabor. It was investigated by the Independence, Mo., Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

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This news release, as well as additional information about the office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, is available on-line at

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html