Serial robber accused in multi-state spree pleads guilty to $136K holdup of Henrico jewelry store – Richmond Times-Dispatch

One of two serial robbers accused in a multistate armed robbery spree last year pleaded guilty Friday to holding up Victoria Jewelers in Henrico County and taking $136,245 in jewelry, gold bars, coins and cash at gunpoint.

“Get all the gold!” Rickley J. Senning commanded his accomplice, Jesann L. Willis, during the Nov. 19 robbery, according to a federal criminal complaint.

“OK,” replied Willis, who asked her partner what else she needed to take before removing dozens of items from store showcases. The loot included 36 pairs of diamond rings, 117 additional rings, 220 gold bracelets, 42 pairs of gold hoops and heart earrings, five gold bars, five gold coins, 28 chains, 262 charms and $5,100 in cash.

The couple then fled in a stolen Honda CR-V with Florida tags.

After their Dec. 2 arrest in Washington, D.C., the pair confessed to the Victoria Jewelers heist and other crimes on the East Coast. They were implicated in eight additional armed holdups in Maryland and Pennsylvania between Oct. 12 and Dec. 2, including robberies of an Essex Bank in Rockville, Md.; a PNC Bank in Potomac, Md.; and a M&T Bank in Frederick, Md. Those three holdups netted the defendants more than $18,000, federal prosecutors said in court papers.

The couple also face burglary, theft and criminal mischief charges in Flagler Beach, Fla.

On Friday in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Willis, 35, of Gaithersburg, Md., pleaded guilty to robbery affecting commerce in the holdup of Victoria Jewelers at 8191 Brook Road in Henrico. In exchange for her pleas, the U.S. Attorney’s Office agreed not to prosecute her for the eight other robberies. Judge John A. Gibney Jr. convicted Willis after accepting her pleas and set sentencing for Oct. 19.

Senning was indicted in March by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiring to commit robbery, robbery affecting commerce and using a firearm in a crime of violence. He is set to appear July 21 in U.S. District Court in Richmond.

According to the government’s statement of facts, Senning and Willis first entered the business on Nov. 8 and sought to sell the owner/manager three pieces of jewelry for $1,000, but they had no identification with them. The owner advised that state law prohibited him from buying the jewelry without identification.

The pair then left and traveled to Ohio, where Senning allegedly obtained a Ruger semiautomatic pistol with a laser sight from a friend of Willis.

The defendants returned to Victoria Jewelers 11 days later. After the owner greeted the pair at the front counter, Senning yelled, “I have my ID this time!” before pulling the pistol he obtained in Ohio. As Senning pointed the gun directly at the owner’s face, the owner’s son tried to escape. Senning then hopped over the counter and grabbed the son, according to the government’s summary of evidence.

While robbing the store, Senning advised the owner that he knew where he lived and would kill him if necessary. After taking the jewelry, gold and cash, the pair returned to the Honda and Willis drove from the scene.

Senning and Willis then traveled to various pawn shops in multiple states and sold a number of the stolen items before returning to Maryland, where the pair committed additional holdups, prosecutors said.

After receiving information about the Dec. 2 robberies of the M&T Bank and PNC Bank in Maryland, law enforcement in Washington, D.C., began searching for the stolen Honda, and officers located it that evening. Willis was driving the car when it was stopped, and Senning was armed with the Ruger pistol. During a later search of the vehicle, police recovered some of jewelry taken from Victoria Jewelers.

Henrico detectives linked the couple to the jewelry store robbery through fingerprints, telephone records and Facebook postings.

A latent fingerprint and palm print recovered by forensic detectives at the store were matched to Senning, and a phone number from a person who called the store about 30 minutes before the robbery was linked to a relative of Willis.

Police then checked that person’s Facebook account and found photos of Willis wearing a black wrist brace on her right hand, which matched the wrist brace of the female suspect shown in store surveillance photos during the holdup.