Federal Jury Finds Pensacola, Florida Man Guilty of Interstate Armed Robbery and Carjacking Spree

Following a five-day jury trial, an Escambia County, Florida man was convicted of participating in a two-week interstate crime spree during which the defendant and his then-girlfriend committed five armed robberies and two armed carjackings across the southeastern United States.

Ariana Fajardo Orshan, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, made the announcement.

Lessie Earl Proctor, 33, of Pensacola, FL, was convicted on July 18, 2019, of all counts submitted to the jury - one count of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act Robbery, two counts of Hobbs Act Robbery, and two counts of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence (Case No. 18-20748-CR-RUIZ).  The case was tried before U.S. District Judge Rodolfo A. Ruiz, II in Fort Lauderdale.

Evidence established at trial showed that the Proctor’s crime spree began on June 1, 2018, when the defendant and his then-girlfriend Anna Kay Coenen used a pistol to carjack a 74-year old woman who had just exited a public library in Pensacola, Florida.  Proctor and his girlfriend drove the stolen car to south Florida, and the next day, on June 2, 2018, they used a pistol to rob a Cricket Wireless store in Doral, Florida.  Proctor’s girlfriend handed a store employee a threatening note and the defendant brandished his pistol.  The next day, on June 3, 2018, Proctor and his girlfriend robbed a Subway restaurant in Hialeah, Florida.  Proctor pointed his pistol at two restaurant employees as his girlfriend emptied the cash register.  Over the following two weeks, Proctor and his girlfriend drove across the southeastern United States committing a string of armed robberies and carjackings, including armed robberies of a Circle K store in Senatobia, Mississippi, a Dollar General store in Prescott, Arkansas, and a Circle K store in Normal, Illinois.  Victim witnesses from across the country testified during the trial.

On July 3, 2019, Coenen pled guilty to conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery and two substantive counts of Hobbs Act robbery.  She is scheduled to be sentenced on October 25, 2019 at 2 p.m.

Proctor is scheduled to be sentenced on October 28, 2019, at 9:30 a.m., before Judge Ruiz in Fort Lauderdale.  The defendant faces up to life imprisonment, and a mandatory minimum sentence of 14 years in prison.

U.S. Attorney Fajardo Orshan commended the investigative efforts of the FBI in this matter.  She thanked the members of the Hialeah Police Department, Doral Police Department, Pensacola Police Department, Prescott City Police Department in Arkansas and Kosciusko Police Department in Mississippi for their invaluable assistance.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael B. Homer, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Young, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa Miller.