Getaway Driver for Armed Robbery of Clarksville Pizza Hut Exiled to over Nine Years in Prison

Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Hugo Ernesto Perez-Sanchez, age 30, of Ellicott City, Maryland today to 114 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiring to interfere with commerce by robbery and aiding in the use of a gun in furtherance of a crime of violence, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.

According to his plea agreement, Hugo Perez-Sanchez, a citizen of El Salvador who entered the United States illegally, conspired with co-defendants Jose Fidel De Paz-Lopez, Adan Perez-Ramos, Tulio Enrique Sandoval-Canas and Pablo Perez-Ramos to rob the Pizza Hut located in Clarksville, Maryland. Hugo Perez-Sanchez had worked at the restaurant from September 2006 to April 2007, and told his conspirators about the lack of surveillance cameras. On November 30, 2008, Hugo Perez-Sanchez drove the defendants to the Pizza Hut and remained in the car while the conspirators entered the restaurant and threatened the employees with a rifle, pistol and BB gun. The conspirators took cash and gift cards, and forced the employees onto the floor, and then into a freezer. They returned to the car and Hugo Perez-Sanchez drove them away.

The defendants were stopped a few miles away and officers recovered the weapons, $543 in stolen money, a dark colored ski mask and a box of stolen gift cards.

All four co-defendants, who lived at the same residence as Hugo Perez-Sanchez and are citizens of El Salvador or Guatemala who entered the United States illegally, have pleaded guilty to their participation in the conspiracy, including Jose Fidel De Paz-Lopez, age 34, who pleaded guilty today and is scheduled to be sentenced on November 12, 2009 at 2:00 p.m.. Adan Perez-Ramos, age 27, was sentenced on July 23, 2009 to 114 months in prison. The two remaining defendants are scheduled to be sentenced in the next three months.

All five defendants have agreed not to contest their removal from the United States upon completion of their imprisonment.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Howard County State’s Attorney Dario Broccolino and his office and the Howard County Police Department and for their assistance in the investigation and prosecution. Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant United States Attorney Judson T. Mihok, who prosecuted the case.