BOSTON – A Lawrence man pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Boston to the December 2023 armed robbery of a jewelry store in Lawrence, where he stole over $500,000 worth of jewelry and precious metals.
Rosnel Polanco, 26, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery (commonly referred to as Hobbs Act robbery). U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton scheduled sentencing for Aug. 12, 2025. In August 2024, Polanco was charged along with two co-conspirators.
On Dec. 15, 2023, Polanco, and allegedly his co-conspirators, entered a Lawrence jewelry store armed with firearms. Numerous employees of the store were present at the time, and it is alleged that the defendants robbed them of their jewelry and cell phones. Polanco and his alleged co-conspirators then allegedly pointed firearms at the victims’ heads and pressed the firearms to their backs as they brought the employees to the basement where the store’s office and safes were located.
Once downstairs, Polanco and his alleged co-conspirators forced the owner of the store to open the safes containing the jewelry and other precious metals. In total, approximately $500,000 in jewelry and precious metals are alleged to have been taken. The second safe could not be successfully opened. Polanco and his alleged co-conspirators then fled the scene in a rented Nissan Altima that was later found burned and torched in a field in Maine the following day.
The charge of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Essex District Attorney Paul F. Tucker; Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England; Colonel Geoffrey D. Noble, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Lawrence Acting Chief of Police Millix Bonilla made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by the Cumberland County (Maine) Sheriff’s Department and the Norway (Maine) and Oxford (Maine) Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip A. Mallard of the Organized Crime & Gang Unit is prosecuting the case.
The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The remaining defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
