State time for man convicted in ‘420’ robbery

Ruben Pagan robbed three WCU students on April 20, 2016

WEST CHESTER » Ruben Pagan got a second chance when he was released from state prison after serving time for a robbery conviction.

Last week, a judge gave him a second second chance.

On Wednesday, Common Pleas Judge Phyllis Streitel sentence the 25-year-old from Modena to 10 to 20 years in state prison for a robbery he and a friend committed on April 20, 2016 — “National Pot Smoking Day” — of a West Chester University student who had spent the day partaking of the drug.

The attorney for Pagan, who had faced the possibility of a sentence far longer than the 10-year minimum for a second strike offense, was able to convince Streitel that Pagan showed enough promise that the 10-year-minimum term would give him a chance to come out of prison with a future.

“We are very happy with the sentence,” said attorney Alex Silow of West Chester, who represented Pagan at his April trial before Streitel. “The judge saw that this is an individual who can be rehabilitated, and who can make something of his life.” Silow noted that even with the lesser sentence handed down by Streitel, his cli-

ent also faces a state parole detainer of a possible seven more years for his 2011 robbery conviction.

Pagan could have received four consecutive terms of 10 to 20 years in state prison on robbery and conspiracy charges. Assistant District Attorney Basil Joy, who won Pagan’s conviction during his trial in April, asked Streitel to impose back-to-back 10-to20 year terms on the repeat offender.

According to court records, Pagan and a second man, Elliot Knight, robbed the three students of cellphones, book bags, a handgun, and whatever marijuana was on hand in an apartment on East Nields Street.

Knight, who cooperated with the prosecution in exchange for favorable consideration in a series of cases he has pleaded guilty to, is awaiting sentencing. He 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.

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.”

Silow had argued that 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. 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.

Many 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, whom 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 cellphones. The second suspect Pagan 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.