Crime & Safety

FBI: Broomall Home Invasion Robber Sentenced to More Than 58 Years in Prison

Clarence Powell was sentenced for more than 58 years in prison by a federal jury in Philadelphia for two armed home robberies in 2008.

PHILADELPHIA–Broomall home invasion robber Clarence Powell, 23, of Philadelphia, was sentenced in federal court on May 24 by U.S. District Court Judge J. Curtis Joyner to 697 months behind bars, announced the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of Philadelphia.

Powell was convicted of two armed home robberies–one in Broomall and another in Upper Darby–involving two Asian business owners and their families in December 2008. He was for the conspiracy to commit robbery, two counts of Hobbs Act robbery, and two counts of using and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence.

According to the FBI, Powell and his co-defendants Michael Lassiter and Troy Hill, followed a Philadelphia shop owner to her home in Broomall after closing her shop on Dec. 1, 2008.

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Powell and his partners, who were all armed, tied up the shop owner and her husband, assaulted them, and stole money and other property, said the FBI.

After the Broomall incident, Powell and his partners followed another Philadelphia shop owner of a Dollar Plus Discount store from his shop to his home in Upper Darby, according to the FBI.

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On Dec. 18, 2008, the defendants returned to the Upper Darby home armed with handguns and a sawed-off shotgun where they forced their way into the store owner's home. 

Once inside the home, Powell and his partners restrained several of the business owner's family members, stole money and other property from the home, and escaped in a car driven by Alexis Byrd-Arroyo, said the FBI.

According to the FBI, Powell is also awaiting trial for an armed carjacking. Lassiter, Hill, and Byrd-Arroyo pleaded guilty and were previously sentenced. Lassiter was sentenced to 30 years in prison; Hill to 22 years in prison; and Byrd -Arroyo to four years in prison, stated the FBI in an issued press release.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the Philadelphia Police Department, the , and the Upper Darby Police Department. It was prosecuted by assistant United States attorneys Arlene Fisk and Thomas Zaleski.


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