Wichita teen who was getaway driver for convenience store robbery gets 5 years in prison

A third Wichita man — this one a 19-year-old getaway driver — involved in a February 2020 robbery of a Newton convenience store where about 25 rounds were fired has been sentenced to federal prison.

Jeremiah Urias was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Wichita to five years in prison on one count of robbery. He was also given three years of supervised release and required to forfeit a “Smith & Wesson, model M&P, AR-style rifle,” according to court documents.

He is the last person to be sentenced in a robbery where $798.88 was stolen from the cash register and a “safe/lock box,” the document said. After filling up the getaway car, the men decided to rob the E-Z Trip Convenience store around 5:45 a.m.

Urias drove to an “obscure location on the side of the store and parked,” the document said.

Co-defendants Rico Montes and Jorge Correa, who are both in their mid to late 20s, went into the store with guns. Correa went in with an “AR-15 type of long gun and Montes with a handgun.” After taking the money, Correa demanded more and the clerk went into the back room to get her purse.

Montes then left the store.

“After Montes left the store, Correa discharged his firearm, firing several rounds into the store ceiling, display aisles and an ATM machine,” the document said.

The clerk told authorities “she was in fear for her life and believed the men were going to kill her,” according to an affidavit.

The men were arrested after a high-speed chase with a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper ended with the getaway car crashing into another vehicle. Montes and Correa were both arrested at the scene of the wreck, while Urias was captured after a foot pursuit.

“We want to make it clear to all persons who willingly participate in crimes that they can be subject to prosecution no matter their role,” Acting U.S Attorney Duston Slinkard said in a statement. “Although the defendant may not have personally entered the business or pointed a gun at the employee, he was still responsible for participating in the robbery, and the Court held him accountable.”

Urias was sentenced to 60 months in prison, while previous court hearings ended with Montes sentenced to 102 months and Correa sentenced to 132 months.

This story was originally published June 30, 2021 at 6:25 PM.