Del. man jailed after admitting to botched robbery
MEDIA COURTHOUSE >> A Delaware man was sentenced to five to 10 years in a state prison Monday after pleading to charges of robbery and illegally possessing a firearm in a botched late-night Laundromat robbery that left him shot in the arm.
Daquan Raheem Brooks, 23, of Wilmington, entered the negotiated plea worked out by Assistant District Attorney Michael Flowers and defense counsel Vince Martini before Delaware County Court of Common Pleas Judge James Nilon.
Brooks was arrested shortly after the 10-minute encounter with the victim, who was working the overnight shift at a 24Hour Laundromat on the 800 block of Garrett Road in Upper Darby.
Police were dispatched to the scene at 3:10 a.m. Feb. 1 for a report of a gunpoint robbery and to the 7200 block of Bradford Road at 3:17 a.m. for a call of a shooting victim.
The victim said at a press conference announcing Brooks’ arrest that he was initially friendly when he came into the Laundromat that night. But then she said he followed her into a utility closet and employee bathroom while she was getting mop bucket, where he brandished a gun and demanded money.
When the victim told him she had no money, he locked the bathroom door and ordered her to strip. The victim refused and began wrestling with her assailant.
“I had to take the gun away from him … she said at
During the struggle, the suspect hit the victim on the head with the gun. Brooks later told police the gun went off during the tussle and the magazine fell out. Officers found a bullet inside a hole in the wall of the bathroom that was taken as evidence.
Brooks said he picked up the magazine and put it in his pocket while the victim fled the store with the gun and ran to a nearby 7-Eleven to call police. Police found Brooks on Bradford Road about a block away with a gunshot wound to his left arm being attended to by a woman. A handgun magazine with four live rounds was found either live the press or die,” conference. in his pocket. The victim was brought to the scene and positively identified Brooks as her assailant.
Brooks was taken to Lankenau Medical Center, where he was preliminary arraigned on robbery and related charges. The victim was treated for her head wound at Delaware County Memorial Hospital.
In addition to prison time, Brooks was given three years of consecutive probation and ordered to stay away from the victim and the Laundromat. He was also ordered to provide a DNA sample to state police and forfeit the firearm for destruction.
Brooks is not eligible for early release. He was given credit for time served from Feb. 2 to Monday.