PHILADELPHIA, PA — A Philadelphia man who terrorized local business owners and an elderly store employee in two savage, gunpoint home invasions has been sentenced to 18 years in federal prison, federal prosecutors announced this week.
U.S. Attorney David Metcalf said Abdullah Hartage, 28, was ordered by U.S. District Judge Juan R. Sánchez to serve 18 years behind bars, followed by five years of supervised release, and to pay $60,000 in restitution for orchestrating the violent robberies that left multiple victims bloodied, traumatized, and robbed inside their own homes.
Hartage and codefendant Ali Chandler were charged in a superseding indictment in October 2022. Both pleaded guilty in October 2024 to conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce under the Hobbs Act and to two counts of committing or threatening physical violence to further those crimes. Chandler remains in federal custody awaiting sentencing.
According to court filings, the first attack unfolded on November 13, 2021, after Hartage, Chandler, and accomplices carried out surveillance on a family-owned business, waiting outside until closing time. The group followed the owners and their adult daughter to their home, arriving just ahead of them.
When the family opened their garage, four armed men rushed inside. One gunman repeatedly struck a 61-year-old man in the head before forcing him to the ground. Another held the daughter at gunpoint, while a third dragged a 65-year-old woman into the house, beating her in the head as well. When a security alarm sounded, the attackers fled, stealing the daughter’s backpack containing her credit cards, debit cards, and identification.
Less than a month later, on December 4, 2021, the crew struck again — this time targeting a 68-year-old employee of a local store. Investigators said the group spent weeks stalking the victim, following her from work and pinpointing where she lived.
The robbers arrived at her home before she did. Minutes after she walked in, three armed men burst through the door. One told her, “I know where you work,” as she was zip-tied to a chair and pistol-whipped in the face, suffering a deep gash that required stitches and a concussion. The assailants escaped with a safe filled with cash, coins, and jewelry.
Federal prosecutors said Hartage was already a convicted violent offender at the time of the attacks. He had served more than two years in state prison for similar home-invasion robberies targeting business owners and was on state probation when he planned and carried out the 2021 crimes.
The case was investigated by the FBI’s Newtown Square Resident Agency, the Pennsylvania State Police, and the Montgomery Township Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Doherty.
Hartage’s guilty plea and sentence represent the resolution of the federal charges against him, but Chandler still faces sentencing in the case.
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