Man Sentenced for Omaha Guitar Store Robbery

Acting United States Attorney Susan Lehr announced that Marco A. Lopez, 30, was sentenced today in federal court in Omaha, Nebraska, for robbery and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.  United States District Court Judge Brian C. Buescher sentenced Lopez to 44 months’ imprisonment on the robbery charge and 91 months’ consecutive on the brandishing a firearm charge, resulting in a sentence of 135 months in the Bureau of Prisons. There is no parole in the federal system.  After his release from federal prison, Lopez will begin a 3-year term of supervised release.

On July 1, 2022, Omaha Police Department officers responded to a radio call to Ground Floor Guitar in Omaha for an armed robbery. The store owner told officers that two men entered the store separately before Marco Lopez entered the store.  After entering the store, Lopez displayed a black handgun and robbed the store owner of cash and property, specifically several guitars and at least one amplifier.  Several customers were also robbed by being instructed to “hand over their wallets.” 

Marco Lopez instructed all the victims to move down into the basement where he locked them and a dog into a bathroom, telling them not to come out or he would “shoot them,” while displaying a handgun.  The victims eventually left the bathroom and called 911. 

On July 2, 2022, Omaha Police were responding to a tip related to a residential break-in, which identified Marco Lopez as a suspect. Marco Lopez and co-defendant Jorge Lopez are cousins. Investigators contacted and interviewed Jorge Lopez, who admitted that both he and Marco Lopez robbed the guitar store, and that Marco Lopez took the cash and guitars with him to Texas after the robbery. Police also searched a truck used in the robbery, finding a wallet belonging to one of the victims and other materials linking the truck to the robbery.  Marco Lopez was located and arrested in Texas before being extradited to Nebraska. 

Co-defendant Jorge Lopez pleaded guilty to robbery and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence and was sentenced on July 26, 2023, to 114 months’ imprisonment with three years of supervised release.

This case was investigated by the Omaha Police Department.