PROVIDENCE, R.I – The getaway driver involved in an armed robbery that turned deadly and resulted in the murder of a gas station manager was sentenced on Thursday in U.S. District Court to 40 years in prison, federal prosecutors said.
Jose A. Santiago, 36, of Springfield, Mass., was sentenced for his role in the September 2010 armed robbery and murder of Woonsocket, R.I., gas station manager David D. Main, according to prosecutors.
According to court documents, Main, 49, was chased, shot to death at close range and robbed by Jason Wayne Pleau, 36, of Providence, as he approached the doorstep of a Woonsocket bank where he was preparing to deposit thousands of dollars in cash belonging to the gas station.
Santiago was the getaway driver of a box truck parked a block away from the bank in which Pleau fled moments after he robbed and fatally shot Main, according to prosecutors.
The victim’s wife, Kathy, told the court that Main was the kind of father who changed his son Michael’s diapers and attended Michael’s band concerts, according to the Providence Journal newspaper.
“I love him and I miss him,” she said, maintaining her composure as family members looked on, some in tears, the newspaper reported.
Pleau, who pleaded guilty on July 31, 2013, to conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, Hobbs Act robbery, and carrying, using and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a federal crime of violence resulting in death was sentenced in October 2013 to serve life in prison.
Prosecutors said co-defendant Kelly Marie Lajoie, 36, of Springfield, pleaded guilty on Dec. 9, 2011, to Hobbs Act conspiracy, aiding and abetting a Hobbs Act robbery and use of a firearm during a federal crime of violence. Lajoie is scheduled to be sentenced in February.