Charlotte Man Handed Down 11-Year Prison Sentence For The Armed Robbery Of A Family Dollar Store

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – On Monday, August 26, 2013, Chief U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney sentenced a Charlotte man on charges stemming from the 2010 armed robbery of a Family Dollar store, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Robert Hikeen Seigle, a/k/a “Bam Bam,” 23, of Charlotte, was ordered to serve 136 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

Wayne L. Dixie, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Charlotte Field Division, and Chief Rodney D. Monroe of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) join U.S. Attorney Tompkins in making today’s announcement.

According to court documents and today’s sentencing hearing, on the morning of October 3, 2010, Seigle robbed a Family Dollar store located on University City Boulevard in Charlotte. Seigle, who had previously worked for Family Dollar, entered the store shortly after it opened and pulled a gun on the Family Dollar employee working at the cash register. Court records indicate that Seigle pointed the gun at the employee, racked the slide on the pistol and asked the employee if he wanted to die. Seigle stole $100 from the cash register and then walked the employee at gun point to the back of the store. According to information in court documents and court proceedings, Seigle then bound the employee’s hands together at the wrist with wire ties and shoved the employee into the men’s restroom. Seigle barricaded the restroom door with shelves of merchandise and fled the store. When CMPD officers arrested Seigle on October 15, 2010, he had in his possession the same .45 caliber pistol used during the Family Dollar store robbery. In October 2011, Seigle pleaded guilty to Hobbes Act robbery, and to possession and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

In announcing the 11-year sentence, Judge Whitney stated that the robbery was an “extraordinarily dangerous offense.” Judge Whitney observed that Seigle was lucky that he and the victims were not injured.

Seigle is currently in local federal custody in the Western District of North Carolina and will be transferred into the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. Federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

The investigation was handled by ATF and CMPD. The prosecution for the government was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Gleason of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte.