A Washington, D.C. man was handed a 52-month federal prison sentence for his involvement in a pharmacy robbery at the Jersey Shore in 2020, an event that escalated into a vehicular clash with law enforcement; Ashawntea Henderson, 32, received his sentence in U.S. District Court as reported by the U.S. Department of Justice.
During a late-night escapade dated May 9, 2020, Henderson along with several accomplices overpowered the night pharmacist and made away with a significant quantity of prescription narcotics after diving over the counter at a Walgreens on State Road 33 in Neptune, New Jersey. They wore masks and gloves, and the conflict with the police unfolded when their getaway vehicle collided with a police cruiser before they raced back toward the nation's capital.
Henderson, already serving a separate five-year stint in Maryland for firearm possession in 2022, entered a guilty plea on October 30, 2024, for interference of commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act robbery), and Judge Amy Berman Jackson's ruling also includes a subsequent three-year supervised release upon completion of the prison term; the defendant along with his cohorts had targeted all-night pharmacies including Walgreens and CVS, scouring for drugs like codeine, Adderall, and Percocet to pilfer.
After their return to Washington D.C., a celebratory moment at a hotel was punctuated by a revealing text message from a known drug distributor seeking to purchase narcotics, a conversation thread that continued over the upcoming weeks with implicit negotiations regarding the contraband, undeniably demonstrating the criminal intent and network involved in the aftermath of the robbery, attempts at selling the stolen drugs spanning a time frame beyond the initial heist.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Washington Field Office’s Violent Crimes Task Force and the Neptune Township Police Department conducted a thorough investigation into the series of events that led to Henderson's arrest, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin Song, Sarah Martin, and Cameron Tepfer leading the prosecutorial efforts in this high-profile case.
