Goldsboro, N.C. — A Wayne County man was sentenced Wednesday to more than 176 years in prison for his role in a string of armed robberies at discount stores in the Goldsboro area in 2010.

Federal court Judge James C. Dever also ordered Domonic Devarrise Usher, 30, to pay $13,749 in restitution to the businesses he robbed.

The sentencing follows Usher’s conviction in July 2012 on 15 charges, including robbery of a business engaged in interstate commerce, conspiracy and possession of a firearm in a violent crime.

United State Attorney Thomas G. Walker said Usher and five others conspired to rob the stores over four months, from 2009 to 2010. He said the group twice robbed a Dollar General store on U.S. Highway 117 in Goldsboro, and another on U.S. Highway 13. They also hit the same Dollar General in Wilson twice, along with one in Pikesville. A Family Dollar in Goldsboro also was robbed.

Walker said the method used in each crime was the same: The masked defendants entered the stores, and one pointed a gun while the others took cash from the register and safe. Another co-conspirator served as a lookout and getaway driver.

The case was part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a multiagency initiative to target repeat offenders and reduce gun crime.

Information on the other suspects was not available.