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Michael Vangpa, 33, was sentenced to 150 months in prison followed by fives years of probation following his guilty pleas to three counts of interfering with commerce by robbery and one count of using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, the US Attorney for Massachusetts said.
Vangpa robbed two stores in Lowell and a third in Tewksbury within an hour on Dec. 24, 2020, investigators said. Each time he pulled his gun and demanded cash. Authorities said he pistolwhipped two clerks at different stores and shot into a cardboard box beneath the register during the third. He stole $60 from the store's register and $600 worth of cigarettes from one store, $200 more during the first and second Lowell robberies, the FBI said in court filings, according to MassLive. He took $1,600 from the Tewksbury store.
Authorities didn't say if the clerks were injured during the attacks.
Vangpa has a history of robbery. He was convicted in 2016 of robbing a Bank of America and TD Bank in Lowell.
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