Second Defendant Pleads Guilty to Armed Robbery of Danville Convenience Store

ROANOKE, Va. – A Danville, Virginia man pled guilty recently to committing Hobbs Act robbery of the Sunrise convenience store in Danville.

Calvin Franklin Hughes, Jr., 38, pled guilty to one count of Hobbs Act robbery and one count of discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence. Co-defendant Arshay Treyvant Haley, 19, also from Danville, previously pled guilty to committing the Hobbs Act robbery.

According to court documents, on the night of February 15, 2023, Hughes and Haley entered the Sunrise convenience store in Danville wearing masks. Haley approached the store clerk and brandished a machete, while Hughes pointed a pistol at the clerk. Hughes took around $750 from the cash register and Haley grabbed cigarette cartons off the shelf. Before fleeing the store with Haley, Hughes fired his pistol into the ceiling, leaving a shell casing.

Surveillance footage revealed a distinctive tattoo on Hughes’ left hand, aiding in his identification.  Days later, officers executed a search warrant at his apartment where they found a pistol hidden in an HVAC vent and a machete in a closet.  Ballistic analyses confirmed the pistol found in Hughes’ apartment was the same one he fired in the Sunrise store.

United States Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh and Craig B. Kailimai, Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, made the announcement.

The Danville Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Drew O. Inman and former Special Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Parker Gochenour prosecuted the case for the United States.