Del. man gets state time for holdup at Brookhaven McDonald’s
MEDIA COURTHOUSE » A Delaware man was sentenced to one to two years in state prison Thursday after pleading guilty to robbery and conspiracy charges in a January armed robbery at a Brookhaven McDonald’s.
Bernard Goodwin, 21, of the 1600 block of West Eighth Street in Wilmington, was also ordered to serve four years of concurrent state probation, provide a DNA sample to state police and pay $647 in restitution under the negotiated plea worked out by Assistant District Attorney William Judge and defense counsel Taylor Dunn.
Goodwin was one of six people alleged to have taken part in the Jan. 19 robbery of the restaurant located at 4206 Edgmont Ave., though Dunn noted he was not one of three gunmen.
Police received a robbery alarm from the McDonald’s at 7:58 p.m. Dispatchers called the restaurant and were told three armed men wearing masks had just robbed the store and were last seen fleeing toward Eaton Park in the direction of West Maple Avenue.
The Brookhaven Police Department had also received a call from a borough resident at 7:56 p.m. asking for a police check on a suspicious vehicle that had been parked on West Marple at Mount Vernon Avenue for about an hour. The caller described the vehicle as an older-model white Chevrolet Tahoe and said it appeared to be occupied by two people.
Brookhaven Officer Kevin Crouse, who was responding to the suspicious vehicle call with Officer Gregory Martin, put out a description of the Tahoe over the radio, stating it could be involved in the robbery.
Parkside Police Department Officer Steven Jackson soon saw a vehicle matching that description traveling south on Edgmont Avenue. Jackson attempted a stop, but the vehicle sped off. An ensuing chase ended when the vehicle crashed on I-95.
Three unknown men bailed from the Tahoe and were not captured, but two Wilmington women, Sondraya Delaina Mills, 22, of the 100 block of North DuPont Street, and Tanazha Ross, 20, of the 500 block of Union Street, were taken into custody at the crash site. Goodwin was captured at near the intersection of 15th and Townsend streets in Chester.
Goodwin told police he was in the McDonald’s just prior to the robbery and that he knew the people he was with had firearms and had parked on a nearby side street in Brookhaven. Mills, who was sitting in the front seat of the Tahoe, also allegedly admitted to knowing the men she was with were armed and planned to commit a robbery, according to the affidavit.
Video surveillance showed the robbers entering the store at about 7:49 p.m. Witnesses described having guns pointed at them and said they were in fear for their lives, according to the affidavit.
One victim said she was singled out by a gunman who said, “She’s acting like she doesn’t know how to open (the safe). Just shoot her,” according to the affidavit.
Goodwin has been incarcerated since his arrest and was credited with time served. Dunn noted Thursday that a psychological evaluation found his client is vulnerable to manipulation by his peers. Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge John Capuzzi ordered Goodwin to seek mental health treatment as part of the sentence handed down Thursday.
Mills and Ross remain in custody at the county prison in Concord on charges of robbery, theft, receiving stolen property, assault and conspiracy. Ross is scheduled for trial Oct. 12 and Mills is scheduled for trial Oct. 16, both before Capuzzi.