Radio Shack robber gets 8 years

Dominique Navarro, one of three New York City residents who, according to police, tied up an employee while robbing Baldwin’s Grand Avenue Radio Shack last May, pleaded guilty to the top charge he faced last week, first-degree robbery. He will receive an eight-year prison sentence in exchange for his plea.

Navarro’s accomplices in the robbery, Cory Elliott and Jonathan Bryan, have already pleaded guilty, but are still awaiting sentencing. Police have said they believe that a fourth man was involved in the incident, but he remains at large.

According to Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, Navarro, Elliott, Bryan and the unidentified man backed a vehicle up to the front door of the Radio Shack at approximately 11:30 a.m. on May 15. Rice said that the men “entered the store, displayed a handgun and restrained the lone store clerk by tying his hands together with plastic straps.” The men then locked the front door, she said, and began gathering electronics and cash from the register.

Luckily, Rice said, a witness saw the men enter the store, checked the front door, found it locked and called police. Responding officers reportedly saw the defendants exiting through the store’s rear door, and quickly apprehended them. Navarro, the first suspect taken into custody, was carrying a .45-calibre handgun.

“This brazen and violent attack in broad daylight underscores the depths these men were willing to go to to get what they wanted,” Rice said. “I commend the police officers who risked their lives to arrest these dangerous criminals and the members of my office who ensured their convictions.”

Navarro will be sentenced on April 25.