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ST. THOMAS — United States Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert for the District of the Virgin Islands announced Wednesday that Melik Petersen pleaded guilty to first-degree assault with the intent to commit robbery.
According to court documents filed in the case, on the morning of September 11, 2019, Ranger American Armored Services guards were attempting to pick up $951,000 from a Scotia Bank branch in the Altona area in St. Thomas (now Oriental Bank). Petersen and another individual, both armed and masked, attempted to rob the guards and a gunfight ensued, during which one of the guards suffered a bullet wound in his leg. The two assailants and the getaway driver then fled the scene without the money.
Petersen faces up to 15 years in prison and will be sentenced at a later date.
This case was investigated by the Virgin Islands Police Department, and it is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Adam Sleeper and Nathan Brooks.
