2 years later, PNC bank robber sentencing delayed again

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The sentencing hearing for the man who pleaded guilty to robbing the PNC Bank in downtown Delaware in 2015 has been delayed again in U.S. District Court.

Alonzo D. Groce, 21, of Columbus, was scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 18 for one charge of bank robbery, but the sentencing was delayed to Sept. 21 in district court. A reason for the delay was not specified by court documents.

Court documents report that on Aug. 24, 2015, Groce entered the PNC bank in downtown Delaware at about 11:30 a.m. with a .25-caliber semi-automatic pistol and demanded money from a bank clerk.

Officials report the clerk gave Groce money and then hit a silent alarm. Groce left the bank and got into a waiting car driven by Jonathan Leon II, 26, of New York City, New York, and the men were pursued by police as they got onto Interstate 71 and headed south, toward Polaris. After a chase, the men left the car in a parking lot on South Old State Road and soon after were taken into custody.

Leon pleaded guilty in January 2016 to a charge of bank robbery and a charge of using a firearm during the robbery of a financial institution.

At a sentencing hearing in May 2017, Chief Judge Edmund A. Sargus sentenced Leon to 29 months in prison for the first charge and 84 months in prison and ordered that the two sentences be served consecutively, totalling 9.4 years in prison.

Sargus credited Leon for the 632 days that he’s been incarcerated since his arrest on Aug. 24, 2015. Sargus added that Leon will be subject to five years of supervised release when he completes his prison term.

The men pleaded guilty to the charges in January 2016, but their sentencing hearings have been delayed numerous times.

Leon has begun serving his sentence and Groce was still in federal custody on Wednesday.

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Groce
http://www.delgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2017/08/web1_ALONZO-GROCE-1-.jpgGroce Courtesy photo | The Gazette

Leon
http://www.delgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2017/08/web1_JONATHAN-LEON.jpgLeon Courtesy photo | The Gazette

By Glenn Battishill

[email protected]

Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903 or on Twitter @BattishillDG.

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