PHILADELPHIA, PA — Two Philadelphia men have been sentenced to nearly two decades in federal prison for their roles in a 2022 string of armed robberies that wounded three people and targeted businesses across the city, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.
Lance Ryan, 28, was sentenced Tuesday to 262 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release by U.S. District Chief Judge Wendy Beetlestone. Co-defendant Rodney Whiting, 33, received a sentence of 231 months in prison and five years of supervised release last month from the same judge.
Ryan pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, two counts of Hobbs Act robbery and two counts of using, carrying and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. Whiting pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, four counts of Hobbs Act robbery and one firearms count.
According to court filings and prosecutors, Ryan, Whiting and a separately charged accomplice carried out or attempted a series of armed robberies between May and October 2022, using a privately manufactured semiautomatic “ghost gun” to target convenience stores, restaurants, a laundromat, a dry-cleaning business, a Dollar General store and patrons inside a South Philadelphia bar.
The robbery spree began on May 23, 2022, when Whiting and the accomplice robbed a 7-Eleven on Mascher Street, stealing about $200 and tobacco products, according to prosecutors.
The following day, the trio attempted to rob patrons inside a South Philadelphia bar. Court records state Ryan fired the ghost gun after a patron confronted the group, striking one victim in the leg and another in the hand before the men fled without taking any property.
On June 2, 2022, Whiting and the accomplice robbed a Little Caesars Pizza on Ogontz Avenue of about $200. Two weeks later, prosecutors said the accomplice shot an Ogontz Minimart employee in the leg during an attempted robbery after Whiting threw a brick through the store’s security glass.
Ryan later participated in robberies of a dry-cleaning business and a laundromat on Ogontz Avenue, where prosecutors said approximately $100 and $2,000, respectively, were stolen.
The crime spree ended on Oct. 4, 2022, with the robbery of a Dollar General store on North Broad Street. Prosecutors said Ryan took about $1,500 from two cash registers while the accomplice held the cashier at gunpoint and Whiting restrained customers.
Philadelphia police arrested Whiting while he fled the scene on foot, and the accomplice was arrested nearby with the ghost gun and stolen cash, according to prosecutors. Ballistics testing later linked the firearm to the shootings at the South Philadelphia bar and the Ogontz Minimart.
Ryan was arrested Dec. 1, 2022, at a residence in Baltimore after federal authorities obtained a warrant for his arrest.
As part of his guilty plea, Ryan also admitted using a firearm during the Sept. 3, 2022, robbery of the Three Tree Grocery on South 6th Street.
The FBI and Philadelphia Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Ashenfelter and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Meagan Gordon prosecuted it.
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