Las Vegas, Nev. – A man who had faced charges related to four armed robberies of home improvement stores in Las Vegas in late 2006 and early 2007 has been sentenced to 18 years in federal prison, announced Gregory A. Brower, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada.

Lance Grandberry, 30, of North Las Vegas, was sentenced on April 21, 2008, by U.S. District Judge Philip M. Pro. He pled guilty in January to one count of Robbery Affecting Interstate Commerce and one count of Discharging a Firearm in the Course of a Robbery Affecting Interstate Commerce.

"These robberies were well-planned, violent, and endangered the lives of many citizens," said U.S. Attorney Brower. "The U.S. Attorney's Office is committed to prosecuting such violent individuals to the full extent of the law. This defendant will certainly serve almost the entirety of the 18-year sentence of imprisonment, as there is no parole in the federal system."

On February 10, 2007, Grandberry and two co-defendants, Laurice McCurdy, 35, of Las Vegas, and Issah Abubaker, 25, of Gardena, California, robbed the Home Depot store at 4195 South Fort Apache in Las Vegas. Grandberry held several employees hostage by gunpoint in the computer room of the store, while Abubaker forced the store manager into a vault and stole approximately $30,000. Grandberry and Abubaker then ran out of the store and entered a waiting vehicle driven by McCurdy. The vehicle fled the area at a high rate of speed, collided with another car, and then pulled into a church parking lot where the three men got into another vehicle. As they were speeding away in the second vehicle, Grandberry fired six rounds from a handgun at a Home Depot employee who had followed them after the robbery. The employee was not injured. Their criminal caper ended when police were able to trace a hidden tracking device to McCurdy's apartment and executed a search warrant which led to the discovery of the cash and weapons used in the robberies.

McCurdy was sentenced in March of 2008 to 151 months in federal prison following his guilty plea to three counts of Robbery Affecting Interstate Commerce. McCurdy's plea included the February 10, 2007 robbery of the South Fort Apache Home Depot store, as well as a November 29, 2006 robbery of a Home Depot store at 9705 West Charleston Boulevard in Las Vegas in which McCurdy struck the male store manager several times with his fist, and a December 23, 2006 robbery of a Lowe's Store at 851 S. Pavillion in Las Vegas.

Abubaker also previously pled guilty and was sentenced in January of 2008 to 108 months in federal prison. His plea included the February 10, 2007 robbery of the South Fort Apache Home Depot store, as well as a January 12, 2007 robbery of a Home Depot Store at 22 E. Serene, in Las Vegas.

In all four robberies, handguns were used to restrain and threaten store employees. Each of the defendant's sentences was enhanced because firearms were brandished and discharged and because they physically restrained victims in the course of the robberies.

The case was investigated by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and FBI, and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Eric Johnson.

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