December 13-2013
Two men from Iran – one an illegal immigrant, the other a naturalized US citizen – were sentenced Friday to 3-1/2 years in prison for robbing a woman last March in a shopping center parking lot in Buffalo, New York.
One of the men held a loaded BB gun to her head as they stole her purse.
State Supreme Court Justice Russell P. Buscaglia sentenced Fardat Vahdat, 23, who entered the country illegally about seven years ago, and Dominic Natarseh, 26, a naturalized citizen.
They pleaded guilty last month to second-degree robbery for the March 15 theft.
Vahdat pressed the BB gun to her head, while Natarseh drove the getaway car. A family going to dinner at a mall restaurant followed the men by car and called 911.
After completing his sentence, Vahdat, a student at Erie Community College, faces deportation, according to his attorney, Patrick J. McDonnell.
The men had faced up to 15 years in prison.
