Opinion ID: 6346167
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Robberies and Convictions

Text: Over three weeks in 2002, Santiago participated in a string of armed robberies at hotels in Pennsylvania. When he was arrested, Santiago was holding the distinctive ﬁrearm that he and his co-defendants used in the robberies. A jury in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania found Santiago guilty of three Hobbs Act counts of interference with commerce by robbery, two counts of possessing a ﬁrearm in furtherance of a crime of violence (robbery), and two counts of possessing a ﬁrearm as a felon. The felon-in-possession counts were based on Santiago’s two prior state felony convictions for criminal trespass and retail theft. In 2005, the district court in Pennsylvania sentenced Santiago to concurrent terms of 42 months in prison on the three Hobbs Act and two felon-in-possession counts. Under thenapplicable law, Santiago also received mandatory consecutive 60-month and 300-month terms (ﬁve years and twenty-ﬁve years) for the two § 924(c) counts of possessing a ﬁrearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. His total prison sentence was 402 months (thirty-three and a half years). On direct appeal, the Third Circuit aﬃrmed. United States v. Santiago, 180 F. App’x 345 (3d Cir. 2006).