Man gets jail for armed robbery
NORRISTOWN » A judge has sent a Pottstown man to prison after a jury determined he took part in the gunpoint robbery of several people inside a West Pottsgrove Township home in order to get marijuana and cash.
Tyrone Jeffcoat-Parker, 21, of the 1200 block of Spring Hill Drive, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to seven to 14 years in a state correctional facility in connection with the 9:30 p.m. Oct. 5, 2016, incident at a home along Dogwood Lane in West Pottsgrove.
The sentence was imposed by county Judge Steven T. O’Neill
who presided over JeffcoatParker’s three-day jury trial last October. At the conclusion of that trial, the jury convicted Jeffcoat-Parker of charges of robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, terroristic threats, theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property.
County Assistant District Attorney Richard Bradbury Jr. sought a lengthy prison term against Jeffcoat-Parker.
During the trial, Bradbury argued Jeffcoat-Parker “in the name of trying to get some marijuana and some money” forced his way into a residence at gunpoint and stole approximately $1,500 and a quantity of marijuana from the people inside the residence.
Jeffcoat-Parker was
armed with a BB gun during the incident but most of the five victims believed it was a real gun, Bradbury alleged. Bradbury said the victims were scared they were going to be shot.
Jeffcoat-Parker previously rejected a plea agreement offer from prosecutors. That offer, according to testimony, would have been a sentence of 40 months to 10 years in prison in exchange for pleading guilty to robbery.
At trial, Jeffcoat-Parker testified and implied that the incident was nothing more than an argument during a drug deal that went bad, that a gun was not involved and that a robbery never occurred. Defense lawyer Scott McIntosh argued the men who testified that they were robbed by Jeffcoat-Parker were lying and that their testimony could not be trusted.
McIntosh suggested the
alleged victims concocted the robbery story because they feared Jeffcoat-Parker was going to go to police and report their alleged culpability in another earlier altercation between the men.
However, with damaging testimony, Carlton Lamont Gillis III, Jeffcoat-Parker’s accomplice in the robbery, testified for prosecutors that Jeffcoat-Parker helped plan the robbery and was the person who brandished the gun. Gillis, who was 18 at the time of the robbery, implied Jeffcoat-Parker controlled the situation and that when Jeffcoat-Parker asked him for a BB gun he gave it to him.
Gillis, now 19, testified he didn’t want anybody to get hurt or assaulted and that he only wanted marijuana that he believed the victims had at the residence. Gillis claimed Jeffcoat-Parker gave him six grams of marijuana for his role in the robbery.
Gillis pleaded guilty to felony charges of robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery in connection with the incident and is awaiting sentencing.
An investigation began when West Pottsgrove police were dispatched to the Dogwood Lane residence for a reported home invasion robbery with a firearm. When police arrived, they spoke with a male victim who indicated that he had been at his home with three of his friends at around 9:30 p.m. when they heard a knock at the sliding glass rear door and observed another friend at the door.
The victim told police that when he unlocked the door, his friend was pushed into the home by JeffcoatParker. At the time, Jeffcoat-Parker was holding a black handgun to the back of the victim’s friend and was accompanied by Gillis.
Once inside, JeffcoatParker demanded money and other items from the victim while pointing the gun at him, according to the criminal complaint filed by West Pottsgrove Police Officer Robert Stoudt III.
Jeffcoat-Parker then grabbed the victim’s backpack which contained about $1,500, police said. The victim said he also had two bags of marijuana setting on a table that JeffcoatParker grabbed and placed in the backpack.
Jeffcoat-Parker also took money from one of the other men inside the residence, according to the arrest affidavit.
“During the incident (the victim) said he was afraid for his life and the lives of everyone else in his house, including his mother, father and brother that were in another room at the time,” Stoudt alleged.
Jeffcoat-Parker and Gillis
were in the home for approximately 5 minutes before fleeing out a back door. The victim stated they chased the pair but eventually lost sight of them.
When police caught up to Jeffcoat-Parker they found him possessing $1,172 in his sock. The money was folded in half by a blue rubber band, the same manner that the victims described it as being in when it was stolen.
Bradbury praised the work of West Pottsgrove police and detectives.
“In a case like this, with a lot of victims and a lot of moving parts, they did an excellent job getting statements. The success we had in court today is due entirely to the efforts of (West Pottsgrove authorities),” Bradbury said after the conviction last October. “They put together an excellent case and that carried the day.”