Man Pleads Guilty to 6 Armed Robberies, 1 Attempted Robbery Inside Norfolk Stores, Restaurants From Late 2024 Into Early 2025
NORFOLK, Va. — Jeovany Rodriguez, 19, pleaded guilty on April 30 to committing six armed robberies and attempting to commit one additional robbery inside multiple convenience stores and restaurants between early December and late January. Each of the incidents was captured on surveillance footage, which showed Mr. Rodriguez wearing a ski mask and wielding an air rifle that appeared to be an AR-style firearm.
On Dec. 8, 2024, Mr. Rodriguez entered a 7-Eleven on West Ocean View Avenue with his air rifle, pointed it at the store clerk, threatened the clerk, and demanded money. While still pointing the air rifle at the clerk, Mr. Rodriguez took all the cash from the register and left the store.
On Jan. 7, 2025, Mr. Rodriguez entered the China Town restaurant on Chesapeake Boulevard, opened the door that allows employees access behind the counter, and ordered an employee to give him all the money from the cash register. The employee noticed the air rifle (believing it to be a firearm) partially concealed under Mr. Rodriguez’s jacket, and the employee tried to wrestle it away from Mr. Rodriguez, causing Mr. Rodriguez to drop his phone and flee. Mr. Rodriguez returned to the restaurant after he realized he had dropped his phone, he pointed the air rifle at the employee, and he again demanded money from the register. The employee complied, and Mr. Rodriguez fled from the store again.
On Jan. 15, Mr. Rodriguez entered the Marathon gas station store on Norview Avenue, pointed his air rifle at the clerk, threatened to shoot the clerk, and demanded money from the cash register. The clerk complied, and Mr. Rodriguez fled the store.
On Jan. 18, Mr. Rodriguez entered the Tinee Giant on West Ocean View Avenue, brandished his air rifle at the store clerk, and demanded money from the cash register. The store clerk was not able to open the register, and her manager was forced to open it instead to give Mr. Rodriguez the cash. Mr. Rodriguez then demanded access to the store’s safe, which the clerk and manager were unable to open, and demanded both women’s pocketbooks before fleeing the store.
On Jan. 20, Mr. Rodriguez attempted to commit a robbery at a Domino’s Pizza on East Little Creek Road, but he struggled while trying to remove the air rifle from his pants, giving the cashier and manager enough time to run out of a back door to safety. Mr. Rodriguez then ran out of the Domino’s without stealing anything. Later that same day, Mr. Rodriguez committed a robbery at a 7-Eleven on Shore Drive. There, he brandished his air rifle at the store clerks, he demanded money, and the clerks gave him a lock box of cash when they were unable to open the register.
The Norfolk Police were able to determine that the same person had committed these crimes, but because Mr. Rodriguez wore a mask, they did not have a way to identify him. With the goal of catching Mr. Rodriguez if he committed another robbery, the police set up a team of officers to patrol the areas where Mr. Rodriguez had been.
On Jan. 24, Mr. Rodriguez committed another robbery in which he brandished the air rifle and took money from the cashier at a Subway on East Little Creek Road. A nearby police unit saw Mr. Rodriguez enter and flee the restaurant, and the officers pursued him. While Mr. Rodriguez was running away from the police, he threw his air rifle into the street. The officers secured the rifle, caught up to Mr. Rodriguez, and arrested him. The police confirmed that Mr. Rodriguez was the man for whom they were searching and charged him with each of the armed robberies, an attempt to commit armed robbery, using a firearm in the commission of those crimes, and wearing a mask to conceal his identity while committing those crimes. Mr. Rodriguez had no prior criminal record.
On Wednesday, Mr. Rodriguez entered an agreement in Norfolk Circuit Court to plead guilty to six counts of armed robbery and one count of attempting to commit armed robbery. In exchange for Mr. Rodriguez’s guilty pleas — as well as his waivers of both a preliminary hearing and indictments from a grand jury — the Commonwealth agreed in lower court to the dismissal of his additional charges. The plea agreement calls for Mr. Rodriguez to face an active sentence of up to 14 years in prison, left to the discretion of the deciding judge after a review of his pre-sentence report. Judge Jamilah D. LeCruise accepted Mr. Rodriguez’s plea agreement and set his sentencing hearing on June 30.
“Mr. Rodriguez put himself and his victims in extremely dangerous situations, ones where a reasonable person would fear getting shot and killed and where either the victims or a bystander could have tried to defend themselves, risking injury or death,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “I feel great sympathy for the victims, who had to endure the threat of deadly force, and I express my appreciation to the Norfolk Police for devoting the resources necessary to catching Mr. Rodriguez. My prosecutors and I will continue to focus our efforts on holding accountable the small number of people who, like Mr. Rodriguez, pose an outsized danger to public safety.”
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Tara Sue Terwilliger is prosecuting Mr. Rodriguez’s case, and Norfolk Police Detective Alexander R. Kay led the investigation.
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