Senior District Court Judge Raymond Finch on Friday sentenced Edigberto Diaz, 46, to seven years in federal prison for using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, and to 21 months for interference with commerce by robbery, U.S. Attorney Ronald W. Sharpe announced.
The sentences are to be served consecutively. Finch also sentenced Diaz to two terms of supervised release to be served concurrently, a fine of $2,000, and a special monetary assessment of $100.
Diaz pleaded guilty Aug. 18. According to the plea agreement filed with the court, on June 21, 2014, Diaz and his codefendant Daniel Ramos, armed with handguns, entered Quality Foods at Estate Castle Coakley in St. Croix. They went into an office area, pointed their handguns at two individuals and demanded that they open the safe.
The defendant and codefendant removed deposit bags containing $24,289.17 in cash and checks from the safe. They also took cellular telephones, a music player, a laptop computer, a checkbook and backpacks from the victims.
Diaz, who was carrying a Smith & Wesson .40 caliber semiautomatic handgun with an obliterated serial number loaded with 14 rounds of ammunition, was shot by the police while being apprehended at the scene of the crime.
Ramos’s sentencing date has been set for May 23.
The case was investigated by the Virgin Islands Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rhonda Williams-Henry.
