Indiana native sentenced for 2019 attempt armed robbery of uptown CVS which resulted in shooting of NOPD officer

Published 1:30 pm Sunday, October 24, 2021

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced on October 19, 2021 that ALAN PARSON, age 21, a resident of Indianapolis, Indiana, was sentenced in the United States District Court for his participation in the June 17, 2019 robbery of the CVS pharmacy located at 4901 Prytania Street.

United States District Court Judge Greg G. Guidry imposed a sentence to each count of the threecount Indictment to which PARSON plead guilty. In Count One, PARSON was charged with conspiracy to commit a robbery involving a controlled substance, in violation of Title 18, United States Section, 2118.  For Count One, the court sentenced PARSON sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 120 months in the Bureau of Prisons.  In Count Two, PARSON was charged with armed robbery involving controlled substances in violation of Title 18, United States Sections, 2118(a) and (c)(1).  For Count Two, the court sentenced PARSON sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 121 months in the Bureau of Prisons. Count 1 and 2 were ordered to run consecutive with one another.  In Count Three, PARSON was charged with discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, in violation of Title 18, United States Section, 924(c)(1)(A)(iii).  The Court sentenced PARSON to a term of imprisonment of 120 months for this count. The sentence imposed in Count Three will run consecutive to the sentences imposed in Counts One and Two.  Following his term of imprisonment, PARSON will be placed on supervised release for a period of 4 years.  A restitution hearing will be held to determine if any restitution is owed to the victims in this case. Finally, PARSON was ordered to pay a $300 mandatory special assessment fee.

At approximately 6:06 a.m., PARSON and his co-defendant, Richard Sansbury entered the 24hour pharmacy, armed with weapons.  Both wore hooded sweatshirts and blue medical gloves.  Upon entering the store, Sansbury removed a firearm from his waistband, went behind the front counter, and detained a cashier by using zip-ties.  Sansbury led the cashier to another area of the store.   PARSON relocated to the rear of the store, in the pharmacy area, and forced another employee to the ground before securing the employee’s feet with zip-ties.  PARSON is then filled a large trash bag with several pill bottles that he retrieved from the pharmacy safe.  Sansbury relocated to the pharmacy area where he continued to zip-tie the employee’s hands whom

PARSON initially detained.  Sansbury and PARSON began to exit the store.

 

Upon exiting the store, PARSON and Sansbury engaged on a shootout with responding officers of the New Orleans Police Department.  The confrontation resulted in a bullet wound to one of the officers, who was shot in the shoulder.  Video surveillance captured the robbery as it occurred inside of the CVS, as well as the subsequent shootout with police as Sansbury and PARSON fled the store.

 

United States District Court Judge Greg G. Guidry will sentence SANSBURY on November 30, 2021.

 

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New Orleans Police Department.  It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys David Haller and Brittany Reed of the Violent Crime/Strike Force Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.