Man sentenced to 7 years in prison for grocery store robbery

Man sentenced to 7 years in prison for grocery store robbery

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SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake man accused of robbing a Carbon County grocery store at gunpoint has been ordered to serve seven years in federal prison.

Upon his release from prison, Dominic Mathew Martinez will spend another five years under federal supervision, according to the sentence imposed Monday by U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball.

Martinez, who took a deal from federal prosecutors and pleaded guilty in September to brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, must also pay $2,200 in restitution to Smith's Food and Drug.

Martinez, 29, walked into the Smith's store at 1075 E. Main in Price on Nov. 26, 2013, showed a clerk at the service desk a handgun and gave her a note demanding money, according to charging documents.

The clerk handed over the money, and Martinez left the store but forgot to take the demand note with him, police said. Officers collected the forgotten scrap of paper and sent it to the state crime lab, where technicians matched three fingerprints on the note to Martinez, the charges state.

As part of their investigation, police also interviewed Martinez's friends and acquaintances, including Jennifer Meradee Tryon. Detectives said Tryon, 43, admitted she drove Martinez to the store, waited outside for him and then drove him away after the robbery.

A federal grand jury indicted Martinez and Tryon in March on one count of Hobbs Act robbery and one count of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. Martinez was also indicted on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Like Martinez, Tryon accepted a deal from federal prosecutors. She pleaded guilty in October to the robbery charge. The brandishing charge was dismissed.

Tryon's sentencing hearing is set for Dec. 16. She faces up to 20 years in prison. As part of her plea deal, however, prosecutors have agreed to ask that Tryon serve no more than three years in prison.

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Geoff Liesik

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