From Washington, DC –
Following a 2021 spate of drugstore robberies in Virginia and Maryland, a man was handed a prison term of more than thirteen years on Wednesday.
The United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) reports that Floyd Neal, 31, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty in March to three counts of drug trafficking-related interference with commerce by robbery and aiding and abetting, as well as using, carrying, and having a handgun during the commission of this act.
In 2021, on Valentine’s Day, Neal and his two accomplices went to a pharmacy in Henrico, Virginia. To get codeine, hydrocodone, and oxycodone, Neal walked up to the counter, drew a revolver, and demanded it from the pharmacists.
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Court records show that he threatened a worker with a gun and another individual ordered the pharmacist to open a prescription safe.
March 25, 2021, a little over one month later, while clad in yellow work vests, Neal and another individual visited a pharmacy in Alexandria, Virginia. After pretending to be customers and taking beer, one of the conspirators yelled out, “Give me all the money” while brandishing a gun.
The two workers were lured into the store’s office by the males, who then stole $7,000 to $10,000 before making a break for it.
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Neal and two others went to a third pharmacy in Beltsville, Maryland, on March 31st of that year. An accomplice of his snatched an employee from behind the counter and demanded the combination to the store’s safe.
A member of the heist team dragged the manager into the back office, where Neal kept an eye on the other employee, as the heist was underway. While Neal plundered the front-desk cash registers, the manager was coerced into opening the safe.
Afterwards, the three figures ran away.
Neal and another individual visited a fourth pharmacy in Manassas, Virginia the next day, on April 1. A worker isolated herself in a back room. The co-conspirator seized another employee by the neck as they dashed to the front.
According to the USAO, Neal allegedly threatened the employees and demanded “percocets and oxys” from them before threatening to harm them. The cash registers were also opened at his command.
While he and his accomplice were trying to escape, Neal was detained. Near the drugstore, they also discovered a 9mm handgun.
The heists committed by Neal affected cross-border trade because the drugstores are part of a larger chain.
Additionally, Neal will be subject to supervised release for five years following his incarceration.