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Methamphetamine habit fuels 2 Wyoming robberies; gunman gets 13+ years

A party store and a cash store in Wyoming were robbed at gunpoint; "heavy methamphetamine use fueled the entire series of events,'' an attorney wrote.

WYOMING, Mich. — Two drug-fueled robberies carried out with a sawed-off shotgun have put a Grand Rapids man in federal prison for more than 13 years. 

Angel Luis Leon, 37, participated in armed robberies last year at two Wyoming businesses.

Leon “acknowledges that he ended up in a world of crime with drugs overpowering him,’’ his attorney wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

The first robbery occurred March 16, 2019 at Pancho’s party store in Wyoming. Between $300 and $400 was taken. A week later, Leon and an accomplice targeted the 911 Cash Store on Chicago Drive SW, taking between $2,500 and $4,500, court records show.

Police say Leon used a sawed-off shotgun in both robberies. 

A federal judge this week sentenced Leon to 161 months in prison and ordered that he pay $4,500 in restitution. 

A co-defendant, 42-year-old Christopher Thomas Desonier, was sentenced in December to nearly 10 years in prison.

“Heavy methamphetamine use fueled the entire series of events involving Mr. Leon and Mr. Desonier that culminated in these two robberies,’’ defense attorney Britt M. Cobb wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

“Mr. Leon got himself caught up in a bad situation where he was using drugs and owed money to dangerous people,’’ Cobb wrote. “He is ashamed at his actions and expresses his extreme remorse for the three innocent people that were the victims of the armed robberies.’’

Leon had been supporting himself working as a handyman, court records show.

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