Man admits armed robbery of Jennings convenience store
ST. LOUIS – A St. Louis County man appeared in federal court on Wednesday and admitted to robbing a Jennings convenience store at gunpoint.
Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said Richard Barber, 51, pleaded guilty to one count of robbery and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The robbery took place on Feb. 11, 2023, at the Gas Mart in the 9300 block of Lewis and Clark Boulevard.
Barber told the court he walked into the store wearing a face mask and a camouflage St. Louis Blues cap. He walked around the store, grabbed a beer from the fridge, and brought it to the counter. He then pulled out a pistol and pointed it at the clerk.
Barber demanded cash from the registers and then fled in a Chrysler Sebring.
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In the early morning hours of Feb. 13, Barber crashed the Sebring in the 800 block of North Florissant Road in Ferguson. Barber was taken to a hospital to be treated for his injuries. A paramedic noticed a .40 caliber pistol on the floor of the vehicle and notified authorities. Police later found the same cap and face mask used during the robbery inside the Sebring.
Prosecutors said Barber was on supervised release at the time of the robbery after pleading guilty in federal court in 2014 to being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to 100 months in prison in that case.
Barber will be sentenced in April 2024. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the robbery charge, and up to 15 years and the same fine on the gun possession charge. However, as part of a plea agreement, both the prosecution and defense have agree to recommend a 20-year sentence to the judge.
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