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DOJ: St. Pete man pleads guilty to 2014 robbery, 2018 murder

Corey Small, 43, faces a maximum penalty of life in prison after pleading guilty.
Credit: Pinellas County Sheriff's Office

TAMPA, Fla — A St. Petersburg man faces a maximum penalty of life in prison after pleading guilty to a 2014 robbery and 2018 murder relating to a nightclub drug conspiracy, the Department of Justice (DOJ) reports in a news release.

Corey Small, 43, pleaded guilty to the following charges, according to the DOJ: 

  • Interfering with commerce by robbery
  • Using and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence
  • Conspiring to distribute cocaine and cocaine base
  • Possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony offense
  • Possessing, brandishing, and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, causing death by murder

The release explained in 2014 Small robbed a dry-cleaning business in St. Pete. During the robbery, he reportedly pointed the gun and stole $51.41.

The last three charges listed above are unrelated to the 2014 robbery.

According to the DOJ, court documents show in 2018 Small "conspired with an employee of a nightclub to sell cocaine for him." Later that year, a man attempted to persuade the employee to stop selling drugs and leave the club.

Small argued with the man who was trying to "interfere" and ended up shooting him four times, the DOJ reports. The man later died from the gunshot wounds.

He was arrested and found to be in possession of a firearm, the release explains.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Pinellas Park Police Department, the St. Petersburg Police Department and the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office all took part in the investigation of this case, the DOJ reports.

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