Norfolk man sentenced to 28 years for role in armed robbery and drug trafficking

RICHMOND, Va. (WAVY) — A Norfolk man will spend 28 years in prison for his role in a violent armed robbery and drug trafficking.

30-year-old Tajh Rodgers pleaded guilty to working with an accomplice to rob a Sprint store in Colonial Heights last January, the U.S. Department of Justice wrote in a news release.

He was sentenced on charges of robbery affecting commerce, using, carrying, brandishing a firearm during the robbery and three separate instances of armed drug trafficking.

Prosecutors say the robbery investigation also led to the identification of Rodgers’ connection to the sale of fentanyl, crack cocaine, and guns in Norfolk in 2018.

During the robbery in Colonial Heights, Rodgers and a co-conspirator held two employees hostage in the back of the store at gunpoint. They attempted to tie them up and said they would kill them if they told police.

The store’s safe has a time delay lock, meaning the two had to wait several minutes for the safe to open.

During that time, a customer came into the store. One employee was let go to help the customer, and was told they would die if they tried to tell the customer about the crime in the back.

The customer left, then the time delay on the safe opened.

The two stole 72 items valued at around $25,000.

Before the robbery, Rodgers was also under investigation for drug trafficking. In December 2018, the month before the robbery in Colonial Heights, Rodgers sold cocaine base, fentanyl and a .38 caliber revolver.

After the Colonial Heights robbery at the Sprint store, investigators searched Rodger’s Norfolk residence. They found a .40 caliber pistol, a loaded semi-automatic pistol, various items connected to the Sprint Store robbery, distribution quantities of fentanyl, marijuana, crack cocaine, and a plastic safe containing a digital scale with suspected narcotics residue and packaging material, according to the release.