Ricardo Rodriguez, Brandon Mojica Guilty in $296,600 Armed Bank Heist

A half-million-dollar dream turned federal nightmare for Ricardo Rodriguez, 24, and Brandon Mojica, 23, both of Deltona, after they pleaded guilty to an armed bank robbery that netted $296,600 from a Lake Mary financial institution. The November 8, 2016, heist was swift, violent, and doomed from the start — ending in a high-speed chase, a takedown by local police, and a trail of evidence that left no room for denial.

Rodriguez didn’t come to play. He walked into the bank brandishing a firearm, forced two employees — one of them Mojica — to crack the safe, then physically restrained both before fleeing with a duffel bag stuffed with $296,600. The robbery was brazen, cold, and over in minutes. But within hours, Lake Mary Police Department officers had him in custody after a pursuit that lit up patrol dashcams and local airwaves.

The cash? Recovered. The gun? Seized. Rodriguez’s alibi? Nonexistent. The plea agreement lays it bare: he admitted to pulling the trigger on the robbery, literally and figuratively. But he wasn’t alone. Mojica, an inside man with access and intel, fed Rodriguez critical details about bank operations and staff routines in the days leading up to the job — making this not just a robbery, but a betrayal.

Now both men are staring down federal time. Each faces a maximum of 25 years in prison for the armed bank robbery, plus a mandatory minimum of 7 additional years — consecutive — for brandishing a firearm during the crime. No plea deals shaved that firearm charge. No wiggle room. The feds are treating it like the serious armed assault it was.

Rodriguez is set for sentencing on March 6, 2017. Mojica’s day in court comes April 24, 2017. Both will be processed through the federal system, where cooperation rarely saves a man once the gun’s been drawn. This case was a joint takedown by the Lake Mary Police Department and the FBI — a reminder that even local robberies don’t stay local when firearms and federal banks are involved.

Assistant United States Attorney Emily C. L. Chang is handling the prosecution. No emotional appeals. No theatrics. Just the facts, the law, and a sentence clock already ticking. In the end, $296,600 bought Rodriguez and Mojica one thing: a one-way ticket to a federal prison cell.

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