SCRANTON — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Pennsylvania, Middle), published as received.

SCRANTON - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Mohammed Zeidan, a/k/a “Mo,” age 36, of East Greenville, Pennsylvania, was convicted on September 5, 2024, for conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act Robbery, attempted Hobbs Act Robbery, and firearms conspiracy following a four-day trial before Senior United States District Judge Robert D. Mariani.

According to Acting United States Attorney John C. Gurganus, Zeidan was friends with members of the Schuylkill County chapter of the Infamous Ryders Motorcycle Club, of which co-defendant Steven Wong was the president. Wong used his position to recruit members of the motorcycle club and other associates to participate in a series of brutal home-invasion armed robberies in Schuylkill and Berks County in the summer and fall of 2020.  Zeidan agreed to participate in an August 29, 2020, home-invasion robbery with three other co-conspirators in which Zeidan and two others entered the home of a street-level drug dealer while wearing masks and armed with firearms and knives and rob the victims of drugs and drug proceeds. One of the firearms used was a fully automatic homemade AR-15 style assault rifle.  Zeidan did not personally carry a firearm during the robbery but tried to break down the backdoor of the residence and impersonated a police officer in order to convince the potential victims to come downstairs. Instead, the victims jumped out of the second-floor window, injuring themselves.  Zeidan and his fellow co-conspirators then ran from the home without stealing anything of value.

Zeidan was later blamed by the other conspirators for the failure of the August 29, 2020, attempted robbery.  Members of the conspiracy later committed additional armed home-invasion robberies in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, and Shillington, Pennsylvania.  Zeidan’s fellow co-conspirators, including Wong, have all been convicted and are currently awaiting sentencing.

The charges stem from an investigation involving the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the Pennsylvania State Police, the Mahanoy City Police Department, the Schuylkill Haven Police Department, the Pottsville Police Department, the Shillington Police Department, the Reading Police Department, and the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys James Buchanan and Sarah Lloyd.

This case is also part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

In this case, the maximum penalty is twenty years’ imprisonment. A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

# # #