Grand jury indicts man accused in armed robbery of Wichita Mexican restaurant
A Wichita man is facing federal charges alleging he fired shots while robbing a south-side Mexican restaurant in November 2022.
Clemente Garcia Jr., 35, was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury, according to court records and a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas. Garcia is charged with one count each of interference with commerce by threats or violence, using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, the release says.
Prosecutors say Garcia fired a “high caliber rifle” while robbing Lalo’s Express Mexican Food, 2051 S. Seneca, on Nov. 23, 2022. According to the indictment, Garcia entered the restaurant carrying a Diamondback DB15 5.56 NATO caliber rifle, discharged it and demanded that an employee there “give him cash from the cash register.”
He then “knowingly, intentionally and unlawfully” took cash “against the will of this employee by means of actual and threatened force, violence, and fear of injury,” the indictment alleges. The robbery “did unlawfully ... obstruct, delay and affect commerce,” according to the indictment.
Garcia was a convicted felon barred from possessing guns at the time of the robbery, the indictment says.
There was no lawyer listed for Garcia in court records Thursday and no upcoming court dates. Prosecutors have asked that Garcia be tried at the federal courthouse in Wichita.
He could receive a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted as charged, according to the indictment.
This story was originally published January 25, 2024 at 3:55 PM.
