TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – A former Tallahassee mayoral candidate has been sentenced to 22 years in prison for robbing a Dollar General, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in the Northern District of Florida.

Whitfield Leland III, 45, was arrested in 2024 after holding a Tallahassee Dollar General store manager at gunpoint and demanding money from the safe. Leland then stole the manager’s shirt and was able to exit the store by pretending to be an employee, per a Friday press release.

After leaving the store, officials reported that Leland ran when officers yelled at him to stop. Officers eventually found him hiding in nearby bushes after tracing a trail of dropped money. The U.S. attorney’s office said the officers were able to recover $689 in stolen funds.

Leland ran in the primary election for mayor of Tallahassee in 2022. With three separate past convictions for violent felonies, Leland is qualified as an Armed Career Criminal, as said in the Friday press release.

He has been convicted a total of 13 times and is now serving 22 years in prison with 5 years of supervised release.

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