Home invader from Philly gets 33 years

A career criminal and his accomplices who targeted successful Asian business owners in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia for home-invasion robberies was sentenced to more than 33 years in federal prison Monday morning.

Tahn Le, 44, of Southwest Philadelphia, 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 co-conspirators held their victims at gunpoint, threatened them, assaulted the salon owner and restrained him with duct tape while they rummaged through the man's home, stealing valuables, including expensive jewelry.

Authorities said Le and his co-defendants believed the owners stored significant amounts of business proceeds in their homes.

In January, a jury convicted Le of conspiracy, robbery and related firearms offenses. At the trial prosecutors proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Le also participated in three other robberies in Freehold and Monroe Township, New Jersey, and Falls Church, Virginia.

U.S. District Judge Legrome Davis also ordered Le to pay restitution of almost $112,700 to his victims.

To date, seven co-defendants have pleaded guilty for their roles in the conspiracy and are awaiting sentencing.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and local police departments in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Virginia