Philadelphia Man Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison for Robbing a Kensington Pharmacy at Gunpoint

PHILADELPHIA - United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Michael Nixon, 31, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today to 264 months in prison and five years of supervised release by United States District Judge Juan R. Sánchez for the gunpoint robbery of a pharmacy in the city's Kensington section.

In March of this year, the defendant was convicted at trial of robbery which interferes with interstate commerce (Hobbs Act robbery), using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, and two counts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, arising from the armed robbery.

As detailed in court filings and proven at trial, on December 22, 2021, shortly before 6 p.m., Nixon forced a pharmacy employee ("Victim #1") back into the store, as Victim #1 was attempting to get to their car. Once inside the pharmacy, Nixon demanded access to the store's controlled substances safe and told Victim #1 to put the narcotics from the safe into plastic bags. As Victim #1 did so, Nixon repeatedly pointed a black firearm at them and urged them to hurry up. Once the defendant had the bottles of drugs, he exited the store, ran to a waiting blue Dodge Charger, and got into a passenger seat.

Nearby Philadelphia Police Department ("PPD") Narcotics Strike Force ("NSF") officers observed Nixon flee the store and enter the vehicle. At that time, the NSF officers attempted to stop the Charger, but the vehicle sped off and led police on a high-speed pursuit through the city. During the vehicle pursuit, PPD officers saw what appeared to be medicine bottles being thrown from the vehicle.

Following a minor vehicle accident at the 3100 block of Janney Street in Philadelphia, both Nixon and the driver of the vehicle were taken into police custody.

PPD officers went back to the route of travel and recovered multiple bottles of controlled substances, specifically alprazolam tablets and one partially broken bottle containing methylphenidate hydrochloride tablets, which matched the substances stolen from the pharmacy.

This case was investigated by the Philadelphia Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Lauren Stram and Justin Oshana.