Serial Robber Sentenced to 182 Years in Prison

Authorities say a Baltimore man was sentenced to 182 years in prison Monday for a series of holdups, including an attempted robbery in White Marsh.

Authorities said 28-year-old Paul Chance of Baltimore tried to hold up the Olive Garden in the 8200 block of Perry Hall Boulevard on April 29, 2013.

That night, several employees were leaving the restaurant when a group of men with guns got out of a vehicle and demanded to be let inside the restaurant, according to The Baltimore Sun.

It was approximately midnight at the time, and the suspects left upon realizing the employees were not managers, The Avenue News reported.

The Olive Garden was the last in a series of four robbery schemes that Chance was convicted of at trial, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland said in a statement.

During the six-day trial, evidence showed that Chance and his partner in crime Sharmaine Diggs robbed Ashland Café on York Road in Cockeysville on March 29, 2013, according to the statement.

They forced the owner of the cafe inside his business, where they bound his hands with duct tape, pistol-whipped him and threatened to shoot him if he did not provide them with money, the statement said.

They took a .45 caliber weapon and $4,000 from one safe and $15,000 from another safe inside the restaurant, then made the owner go into a walk-in freezer before leaving, according to the statement.

Rather than going to trial, Diggs pleaded guilty to the robbery and for attempting to rob the Ashland Cafe a second time, the statement said. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison and restitution to the tune of $19,000, officials said.

The FBI reported that Diggs was apprehended May 3, 2013, after he and another individual parked near the Ashland Cafe and employees called police. Officers conducted a traffic stop and were ultimately able to obtain a warrant and connect Diggs to the previous robbery at the cafe, according to the FBI.

Chance was found guilty in the April 2013 Ashland Cafe robbery and two others:

• Pizza Hut on Annapolis Road in Severn; April 7, 2013
• Hobbit Liquor Store on Bowleys Lane in Baltimore; April 26, 2013

Chance was convicted of three counts of robbery, conspiring to commit robbery, four counts of using a firearm in a robbery and possessing a firearm with a felony conviction, the statement said.

He faced a minimum sentence of 82 years in prison, according to the FBI.

In addition to serving his 182-year sentence, Chance must pay $19,011 in restitution, a judge ordered.

“Paul Chance will spend the rest of his life in federal prison, and many other Baltimore criminals who are caught with a gun will join him,” U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said in a statement. “The defendant’s first adult conviction was for armed robbery at age 18, and he only stopped committing armed robberies when he was behind bars.”