Brothers get county time for Christmas Day robbery
MEDIA COURTHOUSE >> Two
19-year-old brothers who entered open guilty pleas in August to conspiracy to robbery for an armed Christmas Day stick-up that took place in Upper Darby have been sentenced to 11½ to 23 months at the county prison in Concord.
Messyah Ford-Payton and Zachariah Payton, both of the
3900 block of Poplar Street in Philadelphia, have been incarcerated since their arrest Dec.
25, 2018, meaning they will soon reach the minimum of that sentence.
Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge Margaret J. Amoroso also imposed threeyear probationary sentences Wednesday for each defendant, though Assistant District Attorney Geoff Paine said they may petition for early termination if they reach two years without incident.
The brothers were charged after a cellphone taken from a victim was traced to a vehicle used in the robbery, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
Upper Darby police responded to the 4400 block of Rosemont Avenue in Drexel Hill at about 1 p.m. for a report of a pedestrian robbery. The 45-year-old female victim told officers she was leaving her apartment building when she noticed a black Cadillac sedan parked outside.
One man exited the vehicle and asked if he could use her cellphone to call the police, according to the affidavit written by Detective Robert Marvil. As she pulled out her phone, two other men exited the sedan and approached her. One produced a black handgun and demanded her handbag.
She gave the robbers her bank card, license and Apple iPhone 7 before they returned to the car and fled.
The victim told Marvil she was tracking her phone through the Find my Phone application, which showed a real-time location result for West Philadelphia. Philadelphia police were given a description of the sedan and the phone’s current whereabouts as displayed by the app.
Philadelphia police arrived in the area of 43rd and Preston streets, where a traffic stop was initiated on a Cadillac matching the description. Ford-Payton and Payton were in the vehicle and were held at the scene until the victim arrived to positively identify them.
Ford-Payton said they had dropped off a third man at a nearby phone store to sell the phone, but he did not know where the man went afterward, according to the affidavit. The phone was located at the store and had been sold for $50.
A loaded handgun and a cellphone cover belonging to the victim were also found inside the Cadillac.
Defense attorney Shawn Page said the crime was “inexcusable,” but noted both of his clients fully cooperated with authorities, had no prior records and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. He said neither had brandished the firearm, but both are taking responsibility for their actions.
The mothers of both men also asked for leniency Wednesday, each saying they had raised their son to be law-abiding and respectful.
“Mistakes of this manner were never taught nor expected from him,” said Ford-Payton’s mother. “I as well as his father have always tried to shelter him from this lifestyle.”
The defendants also apologized and vowed to make positive choices in the future.
Payton said he has learned he is not a criminal and intends to go to college, possibly going into a trade like carpentry or demolition. He added that he wants to be a good role model for his brothers and sisters.
“I don’t feel like this is who I am,” said Ford-Payton, who hopes to one day coach football. “I look at this situation right here as changing me from a boy into a man. I learned a lot from being in this situation, and I see how it hurt my friends and family.”
The judge indicated she was giving the brothers a break with a mitigated sentence, but warned that she would remember them and does not like to appear foolish, should they find themselves before her again.