Marauding robber gets 33 yrs. in stir

A CAREER CRIMINAL who had been part of a gang that targeted successful Asian business owners for home-invasion robberies was sentenced Monday to more than 33 years in federal prison.

Tahn Le, 44, of the city's Elmwood section, and several co-defendants burst into the home of a nail-salon owner in Bartonsville, Monroe County, in January 2010, after he arrived home from work with his two children.

Prosecutors said Le and his coconspirators held their victims at gunpoint, threatened them, assaulted the salon owner and restrained him while they rummaged through the man's home, stealing expensive jewelry.

In January, a jury convicted Le of conspiracy, robbery and related firearms offenses in the Bartonsville case. At trial, prosecutors proved that Le had also been involved in two home-invasion robberies in New Jersey and one in Virginia between January and April 2010.

- Michael Hinkelman