Federal prosecutors say a Jacksonville man has finally owned up to his role in a brazen grocery store holdup in Ormond Beach. On Thursday, 34-year-old Ahli Fields admitted in federal court that he helped carry out the June 9, 2020, armed robbery, pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, Hobbs Act robbery and brandishing a firearm during a violent crime. Those charges come with a mandatory minimum of seven years in prison and, in the most serious scenarios, can stack up to a potential life sentence.
According to prosecutors, Fields provided the handgun used in the robbery and waited nearby while a co-defendant went into the Ormond Beach grocery store, threatened employees and left with several thousand dollars in cash. Court records state investigators later relied on cellphone-location data and related records to place Fields at the scene on the night of the crime.
As reported by WFTV, Fields entered his guilty plea in federal court and now heads into a sentencing phase that could leave him behind bars for years. The station notes that prosecutors leaned on court documents tying Fields’s phone to the Ormond Beach area around the time of the robbery.
Case background and indictment
A May 1, 2025 press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida laid out how Fields and co-defendant Nathaniel Cox landed in federal crosshairs. The two Jacksonville men were indicted last year in connection with an alleged series of armed robberies across the Middle District of Florida. That release identified the June 9, 2020 Ormond Beach grocery store robbery as the first crime in the chain and highlighted that the two defendants faced very different potential sentencing ranges if convicted.
What prosecutors say
Prosecutors contend that Fields and an accomplice drove from Jacksonville to Ormond Beach on the day of the robbery. Fields allegedly supplied the firearm, then waited outside while the other suspect went in, threatened staff and grabbed cash from the business. Court filings and the plea agreement, as reviewed by WFTV, explain that investigators used cellphone records and location data to put Fields near the grocery store during the heist. By entering the plea, Fields formally accepted the conduct described in those filings, shifting the case squarely into the sentencing stage.
Legal implications
Because the case is being prosecuted under federal law, including the Hobbs Act, the brandishing a firearm count carries a stiff mandatory minimum sentence that sharply increases Fields’s prison exposure. Prosecutors say he now faces at least seven years and potentially far more, depending on how the judge applies federal sentencing guidelines. On top of prison time, the plea leaves Fields open to supervised release and fines that are standard for Hobbs Act robbery and firearms convictions…