Union City Man Pleads Guilty To Crime Spree; Targeted Bay Area Convenience Stores
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- A 41-year-old Union City man pleaded guilty Friday to a 2020 crime spree in which he used a replica semiautomatic firearm to rob or attempt to rob 23 East and South Bay gas stations or convenience stores.
U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds said Nelson Enrike Ramirez entered the plea to two counts of robbery affecting interstate commerce as part of a deal with prosecutors. He now faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison and fines of up to $500,000.
In a plea agreement, Ramirez admitted that from May to November 2020, he committed or attempted 23 robberies of small businesses in the East and South Bay areas including in Fremont, Newark, Hayward, Union City, Campbell, Milpitas, Mountain View, Los Altos, and Sunnyvale.
He admitted that during the robberies and attempted robberies, he carried a black rubber replica semiautomatic firearm, brandished the replica firearm and demanded money from employees of the businesses.
Ramirez often apologized to the employees, stating that he needed money because he had a sick child at home – but he admitted in his plea agreement that he did not have such a child.
He described in his plea agreement that on November 3, 2020, he entered a 7-Eleven convenience store on West Sunnyoaks Avenue in Campbell and asked the store clerk a question.
When she approached him, Ramirez told the clerk that he needed money because his son was sick and insurance would not cover it. As he spoke to the clerk, he pulled the black rubber replica firearm out of his pocket and held it at his side. He told the clerk to open the register, then walked behind the store's counter with the clerk. Ramirez took approximately $1,500 from the register and fled the scene.
Ramirez also described that on November 6, 2020, he walked into a 7-Eleven convenience store on Washington Boulevard in Fremont. He told the store clerk he needed a soda. When the clerk approached to help, Ramirez pulled the replica firearm out and told the clerk he needed money.
He ordered the clerk over to the cash register. The clerk opened the register and handed Ramirez approximately $200. Ramirez ordered the clerk to open a second cash register, but it was empty.
