A shotgun blast of terror struck a Rockford gas station just after 1 a.m. on July 30, 2015, when 25-year-old James T. Woodford vaulted over the counter at the Phillips 66 on Linden Road, 12-gauge in hand, and forced a lone employee to empty two cash registers at gunpoint. The robbery, captured on surveillance and etched in fear, ended with $209 and a haul of stolen tobacco—but it’s only now catching up to him in court.
Woodford, of Rockford, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Court Judge Frederick J. Kapala to both robbing the Phillips 66 and possessing a firearm in furtherance of that robbery. Documents reveal he wasn’t alone: 21-year-old Dakota Diehl, formerly of Janesville, Wisconsin, jumped behind the counter during the chaos and stuffed tobacco products into bags while Woodford kept the terrified clerk in his crosshairs.
According to Woodford’s written plea agreement, the two fled on foot to a nearby getaway vehicle immediately after the theft. The robbery lasted under two minutes—but the consequences won’t. Woodford now faces up to 20 years in prison on the robbery charge, followed by up to three years of supervised release. On the gun count, he’s staring down a mandatory minimum of five years—up to life—tacked on consecutively, with each charge carrying a fine of up to $250,000.
Dakota Diehl has already cut a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty to the Phillips 66 robbery and firearm charge alongside Woodford. But his crimes didn’t stop there—Diehl also admitted to two separate stickups at a Mobil station in New Milford, Illinois, in July 2015, part of a short-lived but violent crime spree across northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.
The case was cracked through a joint federal and local push involving the FBI’s Chicago office, the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office, and Rockford Police. U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Fardon announced the plea, backed by federal and law enforcement brass who emphasized that no gas station robbery—no matter how quick or seemingly small—slips through the cracks forever.
Sentencing for James T. Woodford is set for March 6, 2017, at 2:30 p.m. Assistant U.S. Attorney Talia Bucci is prosecuting the case. The shotgun, the cash, the flight into the night—this crime was over fast. But the fall, for Woodford, is just beginning.
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Key Facts
- State: Illinois
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Violent Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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