COLUMBIA COUNTY, Fla. — A man who was a Florida Highway Patrol trooper for 13 years was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison after he was convicted of committing several armed robberies on multiple pharmacies in Columbia County, according to a news release from the Department of Justice's Middle District of Florida.
The release said 46-year-old Jesse Rance Moore, from Bell, was found guilty on Nov. 2 on four counts pertaining to Hobbs Act robberies and three counts for brandishing a firearm during the robberies. The Hobbs Act prohibits actual or attempted robbery, or extortion affecting interstate or foreign commerce "in any way or degree," the DOJ's website details.
Moore was employed as a Florida Highway Patrol Trooper from Jan. 13, 2003, to Feb. 27, 2017, according to court documents. Moore had several disciplinary issues during his term of employment, where he was twice terminated, but later reached settlement agreements to convert his dismissals to suspensions.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, the FBI first learned of a "masked man," robbing a string of pharmacies throughout the Columbia County after he robbed the North Florida Pharmacy of Fort White at gunpoint on Jan. 13, 2022. The DOJ said Moore was captured on surveillance cameras walking into the pharmacy with a black handgun, demanding controlled substances to include oxycodone, OxyContin, and Percocet.
After holding up multiple store employees and taking the controlled substances, the man exited the pharmacy and drove southbound on U.S. 27. A person in the pharmacy’s drive-thru followed the getaway vehicle and captured the license plate number, which led back to Moore, the release said.
The FBI later discovered vehicles used in previous three robberies between August and December 2021 either matched the description of a white Ford F-350 registered to Moore or matched the vehicles Moore’s wife rented just days prior to the robberies, according to the DOJ.
"According to trial testimony and evidence, law enforcement seized articles of clothing, multiple masks, the firearm, handwritten notes, and brown boots associated with the robberies. In addition, and despite Moore’s many disguises, witnesses testified to the robber’s physical appearance, clothing, interactions, and demeanor during the robberies," the release stated.
During trial, evidence seized from Moore’s cellphone showed he had searched medications stolen from the pharmacies, store hours of pharmacies, and a variety of key word searches, including “do drug stores get robbed in florida,” which he Googled just weeks prior to the first robbery.