Melik Petersen pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree assault with the intent to commit robbery in a September 2019 incident, U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert for the District of the Virgin Islands announced.
According to court documents filed in the case, on the morning of Sept. 11, 2019, Ranger American Armored Services guards were attempting to pick up $951,000 from a Scotia Bank branch in the Altona area in St. Thomas. Petersen and another individual, both armed and masked, attempted to rob the guards and a gunfight ensued, during which one of the guards suffered a bullet wound in his leg.
The two assailants and the getaway driver then fled the scene without the money.
Petersen faces up to 15 years in prison and will be sentenced at a later date. This case was investigated by the V.I. Police Department and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adam Sleeper and Nathan Brooks.
