A Tampa man who terrorized a neighborhood shopping plaza during a pair of gunpoint robberies last year has been ordered to spend 27 years in federal prison, closing the book on a swift, surveillance-heavy investigation.
U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday handed down the 27-year sentence to Jose Rodriguez on Tuesday on robbery and firearm charges, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida. Prosecutors said Rodriguez first hit a pizza restaurant on August 4, 2024, then returned to the same plaza on September 11, 2024, to rob a cellphone store at gunpoint. Federal officials framed the case as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, the Justice Department initiative that targets violent crime.
Workers at the pizza shop were not physically hurt when Rodriguez allegedly pulled a pistol and demanded cash, while witnesses at the cellphone store told investigators he warned employees, "Don't move or I'll shoot you," before taking a relatively small amount of money and running, Tampa Free Press reported. Surveillance cameras from nearby businesses captured crucial angles of the robberies and the getaway car. Store owners in the plaza said the back-to-back stickups rattled staff and customers.
Investigation and evidence
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and deputies from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office zeroed in on the suspect vehicle within 48 hours. Armed with that lead, they executed a federal search warrant at Rodriguez's home. Investigators found a two-tone .45-caliber Kahr pistol inside, which a national database showed had been reported stolen from an elderly man in New Jersey, the press release states. Prosecutors said the match between the surveillance footage and the recovered gun helped lock in the conviction and the lengthy sentence.
Criminal history and prosecution
Court records and news reports show Rodriguez was no stranger to the system, with prior convictions that included earlier robberies and a rape conviction, and he was on parole from New Jersey when he carried out the Tampa robberies, according to Tampa Free Press. Assistant United States Attorney Diego F. Novaes prosecuted the case, which federal officials say was brought in a way that emphasized the use of a firearm during the crimes.
Federal prosecutors have increasingly steered similar gunpoint robberies into federal court under policies that prioritize firearms and violent crime, a tactic that often results in longer prison terms when a weapon is involved. In Rodriguez's case, the combined robbery and firearm counts added up to a multi-decade term that will keep him in federal custody for years.
For employees of the plaza and neighboring shop owners, the sentence removes an immediate threat and closes a particularly tense chapter in the plaza's recent history. Judge Merryday's 27-year order capped a federal prosecution that started with an indictment late last year, and investigators say local and federal teams will keep teaming up to head off similar robberies in the Tampa area.
