On November 16, 2020 U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney sentenced Jonathan Gardin, 36, to 220 months in prison and three years of supervised release, for committing a string of armed robberies of businesses in the Charlotte, NC area. Mandale Huntley is a co-conspirator and has already pleaded guilty to Hobbs Act robbery and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, he is currently awaiting sentencing.
According to filed documents and statements made in court, on February 16, 2019, Jonathan and his co-conspirator, Mandale robbed the Family Dollar store located at 542 Valleydale Road Charlotte, NC.
Mandale drove Jonathan to the Family Dollar store, where Jonathan entered the store and approached the cashier. Jonathan then pointed a firearm in the cashier’s face and at other customers inside the store, demanding money.
Jonathan obtained $195 from the cashier, and fled the scene on foot. Law enforcement apprehended the two suspects shortly thereafter.
Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement determined Jonathan was responsible for multiple armed robberies of local area businesses, including the January 3, 2018, robbery of the Sam’s Mart, located at 4200 Glenwood Drive, in Charlotte. During that incident Jonathan entered the Sam’s Mart, approached employees behind the cashier’s desk, pointed his firearm at multiple employees, and demanded the store’s money.
During the robbery, a store customer released his dog toward Jonathan.
Jonathan fired his gun at the dog, injuring the canine, before fleeing the scene with approximately $250 of the store’s cash. On January 26, 2020, Jonathan pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery of a business affecting interstate commerce or “Hobbs Act” robbery, carrying and brandishing a firearm, and discharging a firearm during, in relation to, and in furtherance of a crime of violence.
