Day of pot smoking turns violent

April 20 of last year was supposed to be a day for a West Chester University student and two of his friends to get together, relax, and join in the celebration of 4/20, known in the cannabis counterculture as “National Pot Smoking Day.”

But the afternoon of smoking marijuana turned frightening when an acquaintance of the man arrived at his East Nields Street apartment with an accomplice and two revolvers. The men then robbed the trio of cell phones, book bags, a handgun, and whatever marijuana was on hand, according to court documents.

On Wednesday, one year less a day from the 4/20 date of the robbery, a Modena man was found guilty by a Common Pleas Court jury of seven men and five women on felony robbery and theft charges, as well as related counts. The man, 24-year-old Ruben Pagan, now faces sentencing before Judge Phyllis Streitel and a possible long prison term because of his past conviction for a similar armed robbery in West Chester.

The jury deliberated about 3 ½ hours before returning with its verdict. The trial lasted three days, and featured testimony from not only the three robbery victims but also Pagan’s accomplice, one of the men he had committed the earlier robbery with in 2011.

Elliot Knight, who cooperated with the prosecution in exchange for favorable consideration in a series of cases he has pleaded guilty to, told the jury that Pagan had joined him in robbing the three men at gunpoint in the East Nields Street apartment. He said that Pagan had been the one that eventually shut each of the victims in rooms in the apartment so the pair could make their getaway.

The three men all testified at the trial. They were able to identify Pagan as the second suspect in the robbery primary because of distinctive tattoos that he had on either side of his face, near his eyes. One was a teardrop, a symbol in some cases of the bearer having served time in prison.

“He probably shouldn’t have gone with the tear-drop tattoo on

his face, which made him easy to identify,” said Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan, who praised the efforts of Assistant District Attorney basil Joy, who prosecuted the case, and lead investigator, borough Detective Scott Whiteside.

Joy, in his closing argument, told the jury that the prosecution’s case rested on one of the victim’s testimony, the descriptions of the victims, and the fact that Pagan was found hiding in a girlfriend’s ceiling after he was identified.

The evidence came down to “the victim’s sight, the defendant’s flight, and Elliott Knight,” Joy said. “All of those fingers point to this defendant.”

On the other hand, defense attorney Alex Silow of West Chester, urged the jurors to reject the prosecution’s case because of flaws he described in the witnesses and their testimony. “There are only four witnesses, and these four individuals cannot, and should not be believed,” he said.

Silow said the amount of marijuana the trio had smoked the day of the incident made their memory of what happened suspect, especially when it came to identifying Pagan, who none had known previously. Knight’s testimony, he said, should not be trusted because he was trying to reduce his possible sentence of 40 to 80 years in prison on the other crimes. He compared the evidence to a house with a cracked foundation.

The robbery occurred around 3 p.m. on April 20, 2016, at the apartment two of the victims shared in the 500 block of East Nields Street. One of the tenants said he came home with another friend to find his roommate talking to a man, later identified as Knight, whom he had previously known. On the witness stand, the victim acknowledged that he and the two others began smoking marijuana earlier that day.

(Marijuana users celebrate April 20 by smoking the drug because of a number of legends that have grown around the number 420 that correlate it to the substance.)

According to a criminal complaint, one of the victims told Whiteside that the man he knew left the apartment, only to return a short while later with a second man, who he did not know. Testimony showed that the second man wore a hat down low over his face, but that two of the men were able to see his facial tattoos.

Both men pulled handguns and forced the trio to lie on the floor, telling them to “give up their stuff. The witness said Knight took his .38 caliber revolver, and took all three men’s cell phone. The second suspect took the three back to bedrooms and shut the doors.

Surveillance video presented by Joy at the trial showed the two men coming and going from the apartment.

Later, a victim told Whiteside that he had been able to find a photograph of the second suspect on Facebook, and identified him as Pagan. Pagan and Knight had been arrested in 2011 by borough police for an armed robbery at an apartment on West Chestnut Street in May 2011. Both men pleaded guilty and were sentenced by Streitel to 3 ½ to seven years in state prison.

Pagan was found guilty of three counts of robbery, three counts of theft by unlawful taking, terroristic threats, recklessly endangering another person, possession of an instrument of crime, and conspiracy. After the verdict Wednesday, Pagan was returned to Chester County Prison, where he has been held since his arrest shortly after the robbery.

Ruben Pagan