Gordie Leroy Penson, Armed Robbery, North Carolina 2016

In a brutal display of violence, Gordie Leroy Penson, 38, of Asheville, North Carolina, robbed a fast food restaurant at gunpoint on August 2, 2014.

According to court records, Penson entered the Bojangle’s restaurant on Merrimon Avenue in Asheville at approximately 9:55 in the evening and demanded money from the drive-thru cashier, threatening to shoot her if she did not open the cash drawer.

Penson then escorted the manager to the store’s safe and fired his gun once when the manager was unable to open the safe on the first attempt. He fled the restaurant with $1,019 in cash.

A federal jury convicted Penson of one count of Hobbs Act Robbery, one count of unlawful use and carry of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Penson has prior convictions in North Carolina for robbery with a dangerous weapon.

On Thursday, February 11, 2016, U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced Penson to 161 months in prison. He was also sentenced to five years of supervised release.

Penson has been in federal custody since April 2015 and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

The investigation was handled by the ATF and the Asheville Police Department, while the case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Pritchard of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville.

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