NORFOLK, Va. - A Norfolk man was sentenced Thursday to 28 years in prison for armed robbery and armed drug trafficking.
Tajh Rodgers
Court documents stated that 30-year-old Tajh Rodgers admitted to working with an accomplice to commit a violent armed robbery of a Colonial Heights Sprint store in January 2019. During the robbery, he and his co-conspirator ordered two employees to the back of the store at gunpoint and forced them to lie on the floor.
Rodgers and his accomplice had to wait several minutes for the store's safe to open due to a time-lock delay, according to court documents. While waiting, the two robbers attempted to tie up the employees and threatened to kill them if they called the police.
When a customer entered the store, the two robbers allowed one employee to go to the front and assist them, telling the employee he would be killed if he tried to alert the customer to what was happening.
A total of 72 items valued at approximately $25,000 were stolen from the store, according to court documents.
Related: Man accused of buying cellphones stolen during local robberies, shipping them to Hong Kong
While investigating the robbery, detectives found connections between Rodgers and another drug trafficking investigation in Norfolk. Rodgers allegedly engaged in several armed drug transactions, selling fentanyl, crack cocaine and firearms while armed with the same pistol he carried during the Sprint store robbery.
Investigators obtained a search warrant for his Norfolk residence and found various items connected to the Sprint store robbery, as well as a number of drugs and drug paraphernalia.
