Tampa Man Pleads Guilty To Armed Robberies Of 2 7-Eleven Stores

Tampa FL

27 October, 2021

3:41 PM

Description

TAMPA, FL — A Tampa man has pleaded guilty to robbing two 7-Eleven stores at gunpoint. Giovanni Gort, 32, Tampa, has pleaded guilty to two counts of armed robbery and one count of brandishing a firearm. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison for each armed robbery count and a minimum mandatory penalty of 7 years' imprisonment for the firearm offense, to be served consecutive to the armed robbery counts. A sentencing date has not yet been set. According to the plea agreement, in the early morning of Feb. 10, Gort entered a 7-Eleven convenience store on Hillsborough Avenue in Tampa. Gort pulled out a gun, pointed it at the store clerk, and said, "Give me everything you got. I be back to see you. If you say something, I'm going to come back and shoot you." The clerk took $435 from her cash register and gave it to Gort, who then fled the scene. The clerk said she had never been so scared in her life. Like this article? Sign up for our newsletter and get it delivered every weekday. It's free! About 10 minutes later, Gort entered a 7-Eleven convenience store located on Memorial Highway in Tampa and said, "Give me all your money, bro," before ordering the two store clerks behind the counter at gunpoint. The clerks gave Gort approximately $100 in a plastic bag. While they were collecting the money, the clerks saw Gort rack the slide of the gun. Keeping the employees at gunpoint while he backed out of the store, Gort fled the scene. This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Shauna Hale and Craig Gestring.