Man found guilty in 2019 armed robbery at Rocky Point gas station

PENDER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — A Wilmington man has been found guilty for a 2019 armed robbery at a convenience store.

28-year-old Jonathan Omar Kelly was found guilty by a Pender County jury on Thursday of two counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon, before the Honorable Judge Kent Harrell.

Kelly was sentenced six years in prison.

This was the first jury trial in Pender County since the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

On October 14, 2019, Kelly entered the Phoenix Travel Center located on Highway 210, just
off I-40 exit 408, with his face and hands covered. He pulled a handgun on the two clerks working at the counter and demanded they empty the three registers. He stole more than $1,300 in cash and took off. The entire incident was captured on the store’s video cameras.

Several eyewitnesses chased Kelly to the I-40 intersection, where they lost him after he ran interstate embankment. One of the eyewitnesses attempted to block the getaway car while it was parked on the exit ramp, but it also escaped. Several hours later, Kelly was stopped by Pender County deputies while walking on Highway 117, within five miles of the crime scene. Kelly was wearing some of the same distinctive clothing as worn by the robber and captured by the store’s video cameras. He was also found with $736 in cash, some of which was bundled by denominations as it was in the store.