Former Florida trooper heads to prison for robbing several pharmacies at gunpoint

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A former Florida Highway Patrol trooper was sentenced to prison after he robbed multiple Florida pharmacies in 2022, the Department of Justice said. 

Jesse Rance Moore, 46, was sentenced to 21 years in prison for four counts pertaining to Hobbs Act robberies and three counts for brandishing a firearm during the robberies.

An FBI investigation into Moore began when word of a "masked man" robbing pharmacies in the Columbia County area spread. 

Moore was captured on surveillance cameras walking into the pharmacy with a gun and demanded prescription drugs such as oxycodone, OxyContin, and Percocet. 

Credit: Department of Justice

After Moore held up multiple store employees and robbed the store, he left the pharmacy to drive southbound on US Highway 27. 

During his getaway, a customer at the pharmacy's drive-thru followed Moore and captured his license plate number – connecting Moore to the crime. 

Moore's license plate number was connected to three Florida robberies. Moore's first robbery was at the North Florida Pharmacy of Fort White on August 2, 2021, his second robbery happened at the North Florida Pharmacy of Chiefland on November 20, 2021, and the last being at the Baya West Pharmacy in Lake City on December 29, 2021. 

A search of Moore's cellphone showed that he had googled medications stolen from pharmacies, store hours of pharmacies, and several searches that included the question "do drug stores get robbed in florida."

Moore was a FHP trooper from January 13, 2003, to February 27, 2017 where he was terminated twice before reaching an agreement to convert his dismissals to suspensions.