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4 sent to prison for Farm Center robbery

General4 sent to prison for Farm Center robbery
On October 4, 2011, Gladwin Penner and Wayne Humes were robbed at gunpoint while they were making a delivery to Farm Center, which is located at #1 North Front Street.
  
It is alleged that in the afternoon while Penner and Humes were making their delivery, three men, one of them armed with a gun, entered the store and robbed them, stealing the wallets of both men and Penner’s licensed gun.
  
The robbers then escaped by running back up North Front Street toward Mapp Street, and then turning right into Cleghorn Street, after which they jumped into the pan of the getaway vehicle, a white pickup truck.
  
Police were quickly at work, within minutes of the robbery.
  
Police followed the getaway vehicle, which led them to a house at #76 Conch Shell Bay, belonging to Danika Young, 19.
  
Inside the house at the time the police arrived were Mervin McDonald, 20, Andrew Talbert, 19, Alliea Augustus, 19, and Young.
  
Inside a chest of drawers in the only bedroom in the house, police found a gun resembling the one described to them by Penner, that was reportedly stolen during the robbery.
  
Police caught up with the getaway vehicle at the corner of West Collet Canal and Vernon Street; the occupants of the vehicle were Rodney Rowland, 21, the driver, and a 17-year-old minor.
  
Young, Augustus, McDonald, and Talbert were charged with “kept firearm without a gun license” and “kept ammunition without a gun license”.
  
Rowland, Talbert, McDonald and the minor were charged with robbery and handling stolen goods.
  
Today, Chief Magistrate Ann Marie Smith presided over the case, which was prosecuted by Sergeant Dennis Miles.
  
Penner was the first witness to be called, and he positively identified the minor, McDonald and Talbert as the persons who entered the store and robbed them, and pointed out the minor as the one who pointed a gun at him.
  
Testimony was given by Corporal 551 Anibal Castellanos, who, along with other officers, were in the area conducting a mobile patrol. He testified that they spotted the getaway vehicle which was described as a white Chevrolet S10 pick-up, bearing license plates #BZC-30530.
  
Constable #560 Abner Itza testified about searching the house at Conch Shell Bay, and who the occupants of the house were.
  
He also testified about finding the gun inside the third drawer, wrapped up in a pair of pink pants, and after finding it, showing it to McDonald, Young, Talbert and Augustus.
  
Also in his testimony, the gun was described as being a Ruger brand, chrome and black, 9mm pistol, with 16 live rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber of the gun.
  
Corporal #1039 Eric Young corroborated the testimony given by PC Itza.
  
WPC #1310 Cassandra O’Brien was the next person to testify. She testified about visiting the Farm Center on North Front Street to take the statements of Penner and Humes.
  
O’Brien also gave testimony about arresting the six persons who were being accused of the robbery, but when it came time for her to name the defendants and their charges, she could not remember one of their names.
  
Things got worse for the prosecutor, because when O’Brien was asked if she could identify Talbert, McDonald and the minor, she said yes, then identified them by the wrong name.
  
She was asked a second time if she could identify them; she again said yes, but did the same thing as before.
  
Sgt. Miles then asked permission to treat the defendant, another police officer, as a hostile witness, which the Chief Magistrate granted.
  
O’Brien was then warned by the Chief Magistrate that if she did not get her story straight, she would be written up in the Police Department, and that all the accused would be dismissed.
   
Sgt. Miles once more asked O’Brien if she could identify the accused. After appearing to take her memory back to the arrest, she positively identified the accused and was very cooperative in her testimony afterward.
  
At the close of the prosecution’s case, Sgt. Miles addressed the court, saying that “the prosecution has proven its case, as the items robbed from Mr. Penner and Mr. Humes were found in possession of the accused some twenty minutes after the robbery, and described as the recipients’ possessions.”
  
The Chief Magistrate then asked each of the accused how they would defend themselves: they had the option of remaining silent, giving an unsworn statement where no one could dispute what they said, or giving a sworn statement and being cross-examined by the prosecutor. The Chief Magistrate also notified the accused that should any of them decide to give an unsworn statement, it would not have much impact in their defense.
  
All but one, McDonald, opted to give sworn statements and faced cross-examination from Sgt. Miles.
  
In the case of Augustus and Young, they each gave tearful testimony about their non-involvement in the robbery and ignorance of the firearm.
  
At the end of it, Chief Magistrate Smith believed the two women and dismissed the cases against them, but not before warning them of the kind of “company” they kept, and advising them to do better with their lives.
  
But the other four defendants weren’t so lucky.
  
Rowland was found guilty and sentenced to 6 months for robbery and 6 months for handling stolen goods, which are to run concurrently; the minor was found guilty and sentenced to 18 months for robbery and 18 months for handling stolen goods, to be served concurrently; McDonald and Talbert were both found guilty of “kept firearm without a gun license” and guilty of robbery and handling stolen goods.
  
For the “kept firearm without a gun license” charge, they were sentenced to 5 years, and on the robbery and handling stolen goods charge, they were sentenced to 18 months for each charge. The sentences are to run concurrently also, so they will serve 5 years.
  
The “kept ammunition without a gun license” charge was “reprimanded and dismissed” against all the defendants.

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