Ashawntea Henderson, a 32-year-old resident of Washington, D.C., received a 52-month federal prison sentence for his involvement in the robbery of a Jersey Shore pharmacy. The incident occurred in May 2020 when Henderson and his accomplices overpowered a night pharmacist, stealing thousands of prescription narcotics before crashing into a police cruiser while attempting to flee.
The sentencing was announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, along with FBI Special Agents Sean Ryan and Brian Driscoll from the Washington and Newark Field Offices respectively. Henderson pleaded guilty on October 30, 2024, to interference of commerce by robbery under the Hobbs Act. Judge Amy Berman Jackson also imposed three years of supervised release following his prison term.
Court documents reveal that Henderson and his co-conspirators targeted all-night pharmacies such as Walgreens and CVS. On May 9, 2020, they traveled over 200 miles from Washington, D.C., to Neptune, New Jersey. At around 3:09 a.m., they entered a Walgreens Pharmacy on State Road 33 wearing masks and gloves. They demanded various prescription drugs including codeine, Adderall, and Percocet. After forcing the pharmacist to open locked cabinets containing additional pills, they escaped with numerous medications like Oxycodone and morphine in a black Nissan Altima driven by another accomplice.
During their escape back to Washington D.C., their vehicle collided with a police patrol car but continued at high speed. Upon returning to the District, they celebrated at a hotel where one co-conspirator received texts from a drug distributor about selling the stolen drugs.
Henderson is concurrently serving a five-year sentence in Maryland for firearm possession charges from 2022.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI's Violent Crimes Task Force in Washington and the Neptune Township Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin Song, Sarah Martin, and Cameron Tepfer are prosecuting the case.