Bethany Man Sentenced for Armed Robberies at Five Grocery Stores

KANSAS CITY, MO—David M. Ketchmark, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Bethany, Missouri man was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a string of armed grocery store robberies.

Jeremiah Kraushaar, 32, of Bethany, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner to 16 years in federal prison without parole.

On October 17, 2011, Kraushaar pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to commit the robberies. Kraushaar admitted that he and co-conspirators robbed five grocery stores, including Thriftway Store, 1616 E. 63rd Street, Kansas City, Missouri, on September 13, 2010; Cosentino’s Apple Market, 7506 Raytown Road, Raytown, Missouri, on October 3, 2010; Hy-Vee Store, 1104 S. 25th Street, Bethany, Missouri, on October 14, 2010; Patricia’s Food Store, 1212 W. 40 Highway, Odessa, Missouri, on October 22, 2010; and Apple Market Grocery Store, 1215 E. Emanuel Cleaver, II Boulevard, Kansas City, Missouri, on November 2, 2010.

During each robbery, grocery store employees were held at gunpoint and their hands were bound with plastic zip-tie restraints. Kraushaar also pleaded guilty to two counts of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence during the Cosentino’s Apple Market and Apple Market Grocery Store robberies.

Co-defendant Finis Richardson, 36, of Kansas City, Missouri, pleaded guilty and was sentenced on September 7, 2011, to five years and three months in federal prison without parole. Co-defendant Javon Turner, 36, of Kansas City, Missouri, pleaded guilty on February 14, 2012 and awaits sentencing.

According to court documents, multiple law enforcement agencies were investigating a series of grocery store robberies across northwest Missouri. Certain common characteristics of the robberies were captured by the stores’ surveillance cameras, including the robbers entering the stores in the early morning when employees were opening the business, forcibly restraining employees with zip-ties, and using walkie-talkies and cellular phones during the robberies. After law enforcement released footage from the surveillance video of the October 3, 2010, robbery of the Apple Market in Raytown, an anonymous tip was made to the 474-TIPS hot line. The defendants were arrested following a high-speed pursuit on December 19, 2010.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney D. Michael Green. It was investigated by the FBI; the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department; the Independence, Missouri Police Department; the Wichita, Kansas Police Department; the Odessa, Missouri Police Department; and the Raytown, Missouri Police Department.

Federal Life Sentences Handed Down in Double Murder Investigation

United States Attorney Robert Pitman announced that in Midland this afternoon, 42-year-old Francisco Sauseda and 40-year-old Armando Sauseda, Sr., were sentenced to life in federal prison for their roles in two drug-related homicides in 2009.

On September 30, 2011, a jury convicted the defendants of one count of committing murder in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana. In addition to the life imprisonment on the murder charge, United States District Judge Robert A. Junell also sentenced Armando to 87 months’ imprisonment; Francisco, 51 months’ imprisonment, on the drug conspiracy charge to run concurrently.

Evidence during the trial revealed that on June 1, 2009, a vehicle occupied by deceased, Steven Soto and Jose “Chico” Gardea, was ambushed in an alley in Odessa by Armando Sr., Francisco, Armando Sauseda, Jr., Auden Sauseda, and Moises Marquez, Jr. More than 150 shots were fired in the ambush, according to evidence presented to the jury. Gardea was killed instantly, according to testimony at trial. Armando Sr. then executed Soto with two shots to the back of the head while he crouched on the floorboard. Gardea and Soto were unarmed.

This case was investigated by agents with Federal Bureau of Investigation, together with the Odessa Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney John Klassen and Brandi Young prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.