Philadelphia Man Gets Nearly 20 Years for Three Armed Store Robberies in Two Weeks
Ibrahem Johnson robbed two Family Dollar stores and a Rite Aid at gunpoint in West Philadelphia in 2025 and was caught after a police officer recognized him.
A Philadelphia man who robbed three West Philadelphia stores at gunpoint over two weeks in 2025 has been sentenced to 238 months in federal prison, just under 20 years.
U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Costello sentenced Ibrahem Johnson, 25, on Oct. 21, 2026, and ordered five years of supervised release after his prison term, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said.
Johnson was indicted in August 2025 and pleaded guilty in May 2026 to three counts of Hobbs Act robbery, which is robbery that affects interstate commerce; two counts of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence; and one count of possessing a firearm as a felon.
Three stores in 14 days
Prosecutors laid out the robberies this way:
- May 28, 2025, evening: Johnson robbed a Family Dollar on the 5700 block of Walnut Street at gunpoint, telling employees to “comply or get shot,” and fled with cash from a register.
- June 8, 2025, shortly after 9 p.m.: He robbed a Rite Aid pharmacy on the 5600 block of Chestnut Street, pointing a gun at an employee and saying, “give me the money or I’ll shoot you.”
- June 11, 2025, morning: He robbed a Family Dollar on the 5800 block of Woodland Avenue, again pointing a gun at an employee and ordering the worker to “get back” before leaving with cash.
Recognized from a radio alert
About half an hour after the third robbery, a Philadelphia police officer recognized Johnson from a radio alert, prosecutors said. After a brief foot chase, officers arrested him and found a loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun in a bag he was carrying.
The Philadelphia Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case.
What the gun charges carry
Under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), a person who brandishes a firearm during a crime of violence must be sentenced to “not less than 7 years,” on top of the punishment for the crime itself, and that term may not “run concurrently with any other term of imprisonment.” The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not say how Judge Costello arrived at 238 months.
