UNION COUNTY, NJ — A Union County man was convicted on Wednesday, March 8, for participating in a multi-state armed robbery spree that spanned several months, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.
Vincent Chan-Guillen, 32, was convicted of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, conspiracy to use and carry a firearm during a Hobbs Act robbery, three counts of Hobbs Act robbery, one count of attempted Hobbs Act robbery, three counts of brandishing a firearm during a Hobbs Act robbery and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Chan-Guillen was convicted following a one-week trial before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler in Newark federal court.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Chan-Guillen committed nine armed robberies between August 2018 and November 2018, five of which occurred in New York and four of which occurred in New Jersey. During each robbery, Chan-Guillen brandished a firearm, which he pointed at store employees and customers. The New Jersey robberies victimized liquor stores in Elizabeth, Woodbridge Township, Bloomfield and Linden.
Chan-Guillen faces a maximum potential penalty of 20 years on each count of Hobbs Act robbery and attempted Hobbs Act robbery; a maximum potential penalty of life in prison and a mandatory minimum penalty of seven years in prison on each count of brandishing a firearm during a Hobbs Act robbery, each of which must run consecutively to any other prison term. Each count also carries a potential $250,000 fine.
Sellinger credited special agents with the FBI, through the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy in Newark, with the investigation leading to this conviction. He also credited the Elizabeth, Rahway, Woodbridge, Bloomfield, Linden, Kenilworth, Union and Lyndhurst police departments; the New Jersey State Police; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, New York Division; and the New York Police Department for their assistance.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Desiree Grace, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney John F. Mezzanotte of the Office’s Organized Crime/Gangs Unit in Newark.