TAMPA, Fla. – The streak of summer violence that gripped the Tampa area last year reached a final chapter in federal court this week. Andres Correa, 39, and Cassandra Kerr, 46, both residents of Lakeland, have pleaded guilty to a series of armed robberies carried out across Hillsborough County in August 2025.
United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announced the pleas, which now leave both defendants facing the possibility of life in federal prison.
The duo’s string of crimes, charged under the Hobbs Act, began on July 28, 2025, with the robbery of a food truck on Sheldon Road in Tampa.
According to court records, Correa entered the business and brandished a firearm at two victims while Kerr maintained a lookout. This pattern repeated on August 5, when they targeted a Tampa gas station. During that encounter, Correa reportedly pressed a pistol into a victim’s stomach to force the turnover of cash while Kerr waited outside in her vehicle.
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Federal prosecutors detailed two additional strikes that month. On August 7, Correa drew a pistol from a chest holster to hold a food mart clerk at gunpoint. On August 19, he struck a Seffner smoke shop alone, grabbing a customer and holding a gun to the back of the man’s head until the clerk surrendered the entire cash register drawer.
The investigation came to a head on August 26, 2025. A joint force of FBI and ATF agents, alongside Hillsborough County Sheriff’s detectives, raided two residences.
The search turned up more than just the suspects; investigators recovered clothing matching surveillance footage, a stomach holster, and a firearm. Perhaps most damaging was the discovery of a ledger containing a handwritten list of banks and smoke shops, complete with specific directions to each location.
Correa pleaded guilty to four counts of robbery, four counts of brandishing a firearm during a violent crime, one count of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, and conspiracy. Kerr pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery, three counts of brandishing a firearm, and conspiracy.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Samantha Newman as part of “Operation Take Back America,” a Department of Justice initiative that pools resources from the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhoods.
While the convictions are secured, a federal judge has not yet scheduled the sentencing dates that will determine how many years the pair will serve.
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