PNC robber given four years in prison

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The Columbus man who pleaded guilty to robbing the PNC Bank in downtown Delaware in 2015 was sentenced to four years in prison in U.S. District Court.

Alonzo D. Groce, 21, of Columbus, appeared in U.S. District Court on Sept. 21 to be sentenced for a charge of bank robbery and a charge of using a firearm during the robbery of a financial institution. At the hearing, Chief Judge Edmund A. Sargus Jr. sentenced Groce to 48 months in prison for both charges, but stipulated that they will be served concurrently.

Sargus also ordered that after Groce completes his prison term he will be subject to five years of post-release supervision.

Groce was credited the 800 days he has been incarcerated during the case.

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 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, 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.

Both men have begun serving their sentences.

Groce
http://www.delgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2017/11/web1_ALONZO-GROCE-1-.jpgGroce Courtesy photo | Delaware County Jail

Leon
http://www.delgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2017/11/web1_JONATHAN-LEON-1-.jpgLeon Courtesy photo | Delaware County Jail

By Glenn Battishill

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Contact Glenn Battishill at 740-413-0903 or on Twitter @BattishillDG.

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