A Philadelphia man who robbed three city stores at gunpoint in a two-week span in 2025 has been sentenced to 238 months in federal prison and five years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney David Metcalf announced. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Costello.
Ibrahem Johnson, 25, of Philadelphia, was charged by indictment in August 2025 and pleaded guilty this May to three counts of interference with commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act robbery), two counts of using, carrying and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, and possession of a firearm by a felon, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
According to court filings summarised by prosecutors, Johnson robbed a Family Dollar store on the 5700 block of Walnut Street on the evening of May 28, 2025, telling employees to 'comply or get shot,' and took cash from a register. Shortly after 9 p.m. on June 8, 2025, he robbed a Rite-Aid pharmacy on the 5600 block of Chestnut Street, telling an employee 'give me the money or I'll shoot you.' On the morning of June 11, 2025, he robbed a second Family Dollar, on the 5800 block of Woodland Avenue, ordering an employee to 'get back' before fleeing with cash.
About half an hour after that third robbery, a Philadelphia police officer recognised Johnson from a radio alert describing the suspect. After a brief foot chase he was arrested, and officers recovered a loaded .40-calibre semiautomatic handgun from a bag he was carrying, prosecutors said. The federal court's May 5, 2026 memorandum in the case, which denied Johnson's motion to suppress the evidence from that stop, records the same sequence: a 911 call from the Woodland Avenue store at about 11:43 a.m., a police radio flash two minutes later, and the stop shortly afterwards.
The case was investigated by the Philadelphia Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kwambina Coker and Katherine Shulman. Because Johnson pleaded guilty, the robberies and the gun are established facts of the case, not allegations awaiting trial.
Sentenced: 238 months in federal prison plus five years of supervised release, imposed by Judge Mary Kay Costello after a May guilty plea. The sentence follows three armed robberies committed between May 28 and June 11, 2025; no injuries were reported in the U.S. Attorney's account of the robberies.
What is solid
- Johnson was sentenced to 238 months plus five years of supervised release after pleading guilty to three Hobbs Act robbery counts, two firearms counts and felon-in-possession — U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
- The three robberies took place on May 28, June 8 and June 11, 2025, and Johnson was arrested about 30 minutes after the third, with a loaded .40-calibre handgun recovered — prosecutors, corroborated by the federal court's May 5, 2026 memorandum in the case.
What is only claimed
- Nothing material is contested at this stage: the facts were admitted by guilty plea. The court's earlier memorandum records Johnson's argument that the stop lacked probable cause; the court rejected that argument and denied suppression.