Department of Justice

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that Patrick Harrison, 39, of Pottstown, PA, was sentenced to nine years in prison and five years of supervised release by United States District Court Judge Chad F. Kenney for a gunpoint robbery of a Rite-Aid pharmacy in Philadelphia that occurred on November 18, 2021.

On March 23, 2022, the defendant pleaded guilty to an Indictment charging him with Hobbs Act robbery; carrying, using, and brandishing a firearm during the commission of a violent crime; and possession of a firearm by a felon. In pleading guilty, Harrison acknowledged that he brandished a firearm and demanded money from store employees. The defendant then fled the store after stealing approximately $600. The defendant also admitted to illegally possessing a firearm, in this case a loaded Smith and Wesson 9mm pistol, which he was not permitted to do as a previously convicted felon.

“Mr. Harrison threatened the lives of employees in this pharmacy with a loaded weapon and stole $600, and for that crime he will now spend nearly a decade in prison,” said U.S. Attorney Romero. “Repeat offenders who commit reckless violent crimes like this defendant will soon face serious federal charges and years in prison.”

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Philadelphia Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert E. Eckert.