ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A New Mexico man is facing prison time after pleading guilty to robbing three Albuquerque businesses at gunpoint over the course of two months.
Lalonzo Simmons, 44, entered his pleas Thursday in U.S. District Court. He was charged with interfering with commerce by robbery and violence; using, carrying, brandishing and discharging a firearm during a violent crime; and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Sentencing has not been scheduled. Simmons faces up to 20 years for each robbery count and anywhere from 10 years to life for the weapons charges.
Authorities say Simmons and another man were armed when they robbed a fast food restaurant in March 2018. Simmons accidentally discharged a rifle while behind the counter and later pressed the rifle to the back of a store employee while demanding the cash register be opened.
Simmons and the other man also robbed two marijuana dispensaries while armed. Police arrested Simmons a few hours after the third robbery and found a rifle with an obliterated serial number at his home.
Simmons previously was convicted of an unrelated charge of armed robbery with a deadly weapon, theft of means of transportation, aggravated battery with great bodily harm, conspiracy and false imprisonment.
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