Kwa’shon Roane, Armed Stickup, Virginia 2016

Gunfire still echoes in the bones of Scranton’s Kane Street, where, on February 13, 2016, four armed suspects stormed the Econo Lodge in a violent stickup that ripped through the quiet of the early morning. At the center of it all: Kwa’shon Roane, 24, of Gloucester, Virginia, who stood before U.S. District Judge Malachy E. Mannion this week and admitted his role in the robbery that terrorized staff and shattered the facade of safety at the roadside motel.

Roane pleaded guilty to two federal counts: interference with commerce by robbery and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. The charges stem from the coordinated heist that saw the group, including Rodney Whiting, 23, of Scranton; Tracy Whiting, 24, of Newport News, Virginia; and Kelvin Robinson, 24, also of Newport News, storm the property with guns drawn. They didn’t come for trinkets—they came for cash, using fear and firepower to seize what they wanted.

The March 2016 federal indictment painted a picture of a crew working in lockstep. Roane and the others moved with purpose, exploiting the motel’s vulnerabilities and leaving behind a trail of trauma. Federal prosecutors, led by U.S. Attorney Bruce D. Brandler and Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert J. O’Hara, built a case that tied each defendant directly to the use of firearms during the robbery—a detail that escalates the crime from local burglary to a federal offense.

Law enforcement agencies from across the region converged on the investigation. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) led the charge, backed by the Scranton Police Department, Pennsylvania State Police, Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office, and local forces from Taylor Borough and Moosic Borough. This wasn’t just a motel robbery—it was a test of the region’s ability to respond to violent, multi-jurisdictional crime.

Rodney Whiting, Tracy Whiting, and Kelvin Robinson have already pleaded guilty to brandishing firearms during the robbery and now await sentencing. Roane, however, faces a mandatory minimum of seven years in federal prison for the gun charge alone—time that must be served consecutively to any sentence he receives for the robbery count. Under federal guidelines, the total penalty could stretch to life behind bars, though sentencing will weigh the nature of the crime, Roane’s history, and the need for deterrence and public safety.

The case was prosecuted under the Violent Crime Reduction Partnership (VCRP), a federal-state coalition targeting firearm-fueled violence across Pennsylvania’s Middle District. The initiative, spearheaded by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, aims to dismantle networks of armed offenders before they strike again. For Roane, the price of his actions is now fixed in court—no masks, no escape, just a guilty plea and the long road to reckoning.

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