Robber facing return to prison in N.J. holdups
Prosecutors say woman failed to abide by terms of release
An Arkansas woman convicted of armed robberies of three New Jersey cellular phone stores in 2016 could be headed back to prison for a second time after the U.S. attorney’s office in Little Rock said she violated several of the terms of her supervised release.
During her initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Harris on the revocation motion, Lisa Anderson, 37, of Jacksonville, appeared by videoconference link from the Jefferson County jail where she has been held for U.S. marshals since Jan. 25. After explaining to Anderson her rights under the federal rules of criminal procedure, Harris appointed Mark Jesse as her defense counsel.
An assistant U.S. attorney told Harris that the government intended to oppose bail for Anderson so the judge ordered that Anderson remain in jail until a hearing can be scheduled.
Anderson pleaded guilty to one count of Hobbs Act Robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1951(a) in federal court in the District of New Jersey on June 16, 2017, and on Dec. 10, 2018 was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison, three years supervised release, and ordered to pay $26,307 restitution. She had been jailed since Jan. 3, 2017 after her arrest by the FBI.
Her two co-defendants, Rodney Day and Zeldrick Nance, both of Trenton, NJ, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit the robberies. Day was sentenced to 100 months in federal prison and Nance received a 48-month term.
The three were accused of three violent armed robberies of Metro PCS electronics stores in New Jersey and Pennsylvania over a two-week period from Sept. 29 to Oct. 12, 2017.
Day was accused of brandishing a firearm while Nance used duct tape to secure store employees as Anderson took money from the cash register and cellphones from the display.
On Dec. 12, 2018, Anderson was released from custody and her case was transferred from New Jersey to the Eastern District of Arkansas.
A report by the federal probation office in the District of New Jersey noted that on Jan. 15, 2019, just over a month after her release from custody and transfer to Eastern District of Arkansas supervision, Anderson failed to report for a mandatory drug screen and the following day submitted a urine sample that tested positive for marijuana use.
The report said Anderson was verbally reprimanded, placed on increased reporting and drug testing and referred for out-patient substance abuse treatment.
On Aug. 21, 2019, U.S. District Judge James M. Moody Jr. sentenced Anderson to four months in federal custody and an additional two years supervised release for numerous violations of the terms of her supervised release.
Those violations included two arrests for driving on a suspended driver’s license, failure to appear, use of marijuana, failure to attend substance-abuse treatment, failure to attend mental health treatment, failure to make restitution payments, and failure to maintain employment.
On July 27, 2020, the U.S. attorney’s office filed a petition to revoke Anderson’s supervised release, alleging that Anderson failed to submit monthly supervision reports during the first six months of 2020, failed to notify the probation office of a change in her residence and a change in her employment, that she was terminated from a mandated 180 days in a residential reentry center, that she was terminated from a mandated 72-day stay at a residential chemical-free living facility for failure to comply, and that she failed to make restitution payments as ordered by the court.