2 men facing trial for alleged robbery
One man from Philadelphia and another from Virginia must answer charges in Montgomery County Court.
Two men, one from Philadelphia and the other from Virginia, must answer to robbery-related charges in Montgomery County Court in connection with allegations they took part in a holdup at a Cheltenham pharmacy.
Torrey Lee Thompson, 50, of the 5600 block of Appletree Street, Philadelphia, and Dante Salley, 33, of Virginia Beach, Va., each was held for trial after a preliminary hearing this week before District Court Judge Margaret A. Hunsicker on charges of robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property and criminal use of a communication facility in connection with alleged October 2019 robbery at the CVS Pharmacy at 45 Cheltenham Ave.
Thompson and Salley were remanded to the county jail in lieu of $99,000 cash bail to await trial on the charges in county court.
The hearing was held via a video-conferencing system in order to comply with social distancing orders during the coronavirus pandemic. All of the parties, including Thompson and Salley, who were at the county jail, were linked by video technology from their offices or homes.
During the hearing, Assistant District Attorney Scott Frank Frame argued prosecutors presented sufficient evidence to move the charges to county court for trial.
Salley was represented at the hearing by defense lawyer Elizabeth Kathryn Dobson Brogan and Thompson was represented by defense lawyer Cary Bartlow Hall.
The investigation began about 8:53 p.m. Oct. 25 when Cheltenham police responded to the pharmacy for a report of an armed robbery. A female clerk told detectives two suspects entered the store shortly before closing time and one man, allegedly Thompson, approached her and “motioned like he had a gun” and ordered the clerk and a coworker to go to the office area, according to a criminal complaint.
The clerk was forced to open a safe and Salley allegedly “removed what appeared to be a light color cloth bag or pillow case from his pocket” and placed money from the safe into the bag, according to the arrest affidavit.
After emptying the safe of about $3,304, the two robbers fled from the store on foot, detectives alleged. Unbeknownst to the robbers, a GPS tracking device was hidden with the money and was activated immediately, according to court documents.
The final address relayed by the tracker was in the 5600 block of Appletree Street in West Philadelphia, the location of Thompson’s residence, according to the arrest affidavit. Investigators discovered a Mercury Mountaineer vehicle parked on the street and in which they observed clothing items “that were consistent with the items seen and worn by the suspects during the CVS robbery,” according to the criminal complaint.
The Mercury vehicle also matched the description of a vehicle observed in video surveillance footage obtained from the area near the pharmacy around the time of the robbery, according to court documents.
Authorities alleged two fingerprints lifted from the driver side rear passenger door of the Mercury Mountaineer were linked to Salley and one other latent fingerprint was linked to Thompson.
Detectives also used cell phone tower data to link mobile phones allegedly belonging to Thompson and Salley to being in the area of the CVS at the time of the robbery, according to the criminal complaint. Thompson and Salley allegedly were communicating with each other on the phones shortly before the robbery, according to court papers.
The robbery was investigated by Cheltenham Detective Matthew Gonglik.