Eric Romero-Lobato, Armed Robbery and Carjacking, NV 2022

Reno, Nevada — Eric Romero-Lobato, 39, is headed to federal prison for 26 years and seven months after a pair of violent, firearm-fueled rampages across northern Nevada. U.S. District Judge Larry R. Hicks handed down the sentence today, marking the end of a two-year legal battle that exposed Romero-Lobato’s trail of terror through Sparks and Reno.

On March 4, 2018, Romero-Lobato stormed into a Sparks restaurant with an accomplice, aiming to rob the establishment while patrons dined. Brandishing a 9mm semi-automatic pistol, he fired a single shot into the ceiling during the chaos. Though the robbery failed, the act of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence sealed his fate. In November 2019, a jury convicted him of conspiracy to commit interference with commerce by robbery, attempted interference with commerce by robbery, discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, and felon in possession of a firearm.

Just over two months later, on May 14, 2018, Romero-Lobato escalated. In Reno, he pressed a pistol to a victim’s head, seized their car, wallet, and phone, and vanished in a high-speed flight from law enforcement. The chase ended in wreckage when he crashed the stolen vehicle. Police apprehended Romero-Lobato at the scene and recovered the same 9mm semi-automatic pistol used in the restaurant incident—forensic analysis confirmed the match. A separate jury convicted him in July 2019 on charges of carjacking, use of a firearm during a crime of violence, and again, felon in possession of a firearm.

Romero-Lobato has no clean past. His record includes a gross misdemeanor for conspiracy to commit battery with a deadly weapon—stemming from a screwdriver stabbing—and three felony convictions for unlawful reentry after deportation. He also has a prior felony for eluding police. As a convicted felon, he was legally barred from possessing any firearm, yet he carried and used one in two violent episodes within months.

The Reno Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) led the carjacking investigation, while the Sparks Police Department and ATF handled the restaurant robbery probe. Both cases were prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Megan Rachow and Steve Myhre, with Rachow and Penelope Brady handling the robbery prosecution.

The convictions were secured under Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the Department of Justice’s national initiative to combat violent crime. Since its reinvigoration in October 2017, PSN has prioritized dismantling repeat offender networks and strengthening local-federal law enforcement collaboration. For more on PSN, visit www.justice.gov/usao-nv.