Ex-Florida Highway Patrolman sentenced for robbing multiple pharmacies at gunpoint, DOJ says
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A former Florida Highway Patrol Trooper was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison after he allegedly robbed multiple pharmacies at gunpoint, according to documents.
On Tuesday, the Department of Justice announced that Jesse Rance Moore, 46, was sentenced for counts pertaining to Hobbs Act robberies and three counts for brandishing a firearm during them.
A jury found Moore guilty on Nov. 2, 2023. He was also ordered to forfeit his firearm.
Court documents show that the Federal Bureau of Investigation learned that a masked man had been robbing a string of pharmacies in the Columbia County area after the North Florida Pharmacy was robbed at gun point on Jan. 13, 2022.
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Surveillance cameras caught the masked suspect walking into the pharmacy with a black handgun, demanding oxycodone, OxyContin, and Percocet.
After holding up multiple store employees and taking the controlled substances, the man left the pharmacy and drove southbound on US Highway 27.
Image courtesy of the DOJ Image courtesy of the DOJ Image courtesy of the DOJ
Shortly after the suspect fled, a Good Samaritan, who was in the pharmacy’s drive-thru, followed the man’s getaway car and took a picture of the license plate, which led back to Moore.
According to the DOJ, the FBI later discovered that the vehicles used in the previous three robberies: North Florida Pharmacy of Fort White on Aug. 2, 2021, North Florida Pharmacy of Chiefland on Nov. 20, 2021, and the Baya West Pharmacy in Lake City on Dec. 29, 2021, matched the description of a vehicle that was registered to Moore or matched the vehicles his wife had rented just days before the robberies.
Law enforcement seized articles of clothing, multiple masks, the firearm, handwritten notes, and brown boots associated with the robberies, according to the DOJ.
Despite Moore’s “many disguises,” witnesses testified to the robber’s physical appearance, clothing, interactions, and demeanor during the robberies.
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During his trial, Moore’s cell phone revealed that he had googled medications stolen from the pharmacies, pharmacy store hours, and a variety of key word searches, including, “Do drug stores get robbed in Florida?” He allegedly googled this just weeks before the first robbery.
Court documents state that Moore was a Florida Highway Patrol Trooper from Jan. 13, 2003, to Feb. 27, 2017.
According to the DOJ, Moore had “several disciplinary issues” during his tenure and was terminated twice. However, he later settled agreements to convert his dismissals to suspensions.
The FBI, the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, the Lake City Police Department, the Chiefland Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the Florida Highway Patrol investigated this case.
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