Palatka man gets 22 years in federal prison for robbing pharmacies

A man who held up to Florida pharmacies, pointing a gun at the pharmacists’ heads and demanding opioids, has been sentenced to 22 years and ordered to pay $46,236 in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Arsenio Dennis, 31, of Palatka, pleaded guilty in February to robbing pharmacies in both Tampa and Lakeland. He ordered the pharmacies to lay on the ground and count to 1,000 while he ran out of the stores. Several other pharmacies in Florida were robbed in a similar manner between August 2017 and March 2018, but Dennis was believed to be involved in at least three of them.

In addition to the prison time and destitution, U.S. District Judge Thomas Barber ordered Dennis to forfeit the gun and ammunition that were seized during the investigation.