LANCASTER, Pa. — Note: The video is from October 2018.
The fourth suspect charged in connection to the attempted robbery of a Lancaster pharmacy in 2018 was sentenced this week to 12 years in prison and three months of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced Tuesday.
Andrew Garrett, 30, of Steelton, was sentenced at a hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Juan R. Sanchez, Romero said in a press release.
Garrett is the last of four defendants to be charged, Romero said. Co-conspirators Brandon Galette, Johnny Straining, and Lamar Black were charged along with Garret in 2019 with trying to rob Smithgall's Pharmacy in Lancaster.
The West Lemon Street business was owned at the time by the late Charlie Smithgall, the former mayor of Lancaster.
Straining and Black were also charged with the armed robbery of a pharmacy in York the day before, Romero said.
All four defendants pleaded guilty, Romero said.
Galette, 30, of Harrisburg, was sentenced this February to 148 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and $12,650 in restitution for attempted Hobbs Act robbery and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Straining, 28, also of Harrisburg, was sentenced in August 2023 to 168 months in prison and two years of supervised release, for conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery and attempted Hobbs Act robbery.
Black, 35, also of Harrisburg, was sentenced in August 2023 to 180 months in prison and two years of supervised release, for conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, attempted Hobbs Act robbery, and possession of a firearm by a felon.
According to authorities, on the afternoon of October 23, 2018, Galette entered Smithgall’s with a loaded firearm, given to him by Black, and demanded prescription opioid pills at gunpoint. He assaulted a customer and then tried to corral pharmacy employees into a back room.
As he did, Smithgall pulled a gun from his desk drawer and shot Galette three times. Galette lunged at Smithgall, and they wrestled on the ground for several seconds.
Galette then tried to flee but collapsed from his injuries on the sidewalk outside the pharmacy.
Upon hearing shots, Straining, who had entered the pharmacy to help take the pills, ran out of the store and fled with Black and Garrett in a getaway car.
“This attempted armed robbery was a terrifying experience for the employees and customers of Smithgall’s,” said Romero. “My office and our law enforcement partners won’t stand for these armed robbery crews targeting our stores, businesses, and the people in them. We’ll continue to take violent offenders off the street and hold them accountable for their actions, making our communities safer for one and all.”
Smithgall, who served as the mayor of Lancaster from 1998 to 2006, was not charged in the incident. The Lancaster County District Attorney's Office determined he was justified under the threat of imminent death.
Smithgall died of heart failure on Oct. 18, 2022.
The case was investigated by FBI Philadelphia’s Capital Area Resident Agency and the Lancaster City Bureau of Police and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Timothy M. Stengel.