Brooklyn Man Busted In $1M Check-Cashing Heist, Feds Say

BROOKLYN, NY — A Brooklyn man who raked in more than $1 million by robbing the owner and customers of a Queens cash-checking business at gunpoint could face life in prison, according to prosecutors.

Robert "Chicho" Rodriguez, 37, was charged Wednesday in the robbery spree, which targeted a Jamaica cash-checking business in 2020 and 2021, according to prosecutors.

“The defendant is charged with the brazen gunpoint robberies of the owner and customers of a Queens check cashing business,”said United States Attorney Breon Peace. “Such openly menacing and violent conduct will not be tolerated."

Rodriguez and co-conspirators are accused of ambushing the owner of the cash-checking business while he pulled out of the driveway with more than $1 million, according to prosecutors.

Two of the thieves pistol-whipped the business owner and demanded his money while a third waiting in a van at the end of the driveway to prevent his escape, court documents show.

The trio had surveilled the cash-checking business and the owner's home for weeks before the ambush, according to prosecutors. One of the co-conspirators, Raymundo Heyaime Sanchez, is also charged in the robbery, prosecutors said.

Rodriguez is accused of returning to the cash-check business on his own more than a year later and robbing three customers at gunpoint within the span of a week, according to court documents.

Both Rodriguez and Sanchez, who are from Cypress Hills, face a minimum sentence of 84 months and could be ordered to life in prison if convicted of the charges, prosecutors said.