Man gets prison for store robbery
NORRISTOWN » A Philadelphia man who admitted to the gunpoint robbery of a Dollar Tree store where he once worked in Springfield Township, faces several years in prison for the crime.
Malik Amir Heyward, 19, of the 8400 block of Lynnewood Road, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to three to six years in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to felony charges of robbery and possession of a firearm with an altered serial number in connection with the July 2019 incident at the Dollar Tree along Bethlehem Pike in Springfield. Judge Thomas C. Branca also ordered Heyward to complete 12 years’ probation.
An investigation of Heyward began about 10 p.m. July 2 when Springfield police responded to the store at 1841 Bethlehem Pike for a report of a robbery in progress. Officers surrounded the building and observed a male, later determined to be Heyward, standing in one of the checkout lines interacting with an employee while holding a firearm, according to the criminal complaint filed by Springfield Detective Stephen P. Craig.
“Heyward saw police and fled to the rear of the store, officers pursued him on foot. He fled out the back door of the store and encountered two more officers in the parking lot. He was ordered to the ground at gunpoint and was taken into custody,” Craig alleged in the arrest affidavit.
Two employees were in the store at the time of the incident.
The investigation determined that Heyward entered the store near the close of business, went to
the rear of the store, entered a stock room armed with a black semiautomatic pistol and approached a female employee.
“He made her go back into the break area. In the course of getting her to move, he pushed her over and fell on top of her. He pushed the gun against her cheek, causing a mark on her face. She screamed,” Craig alleged.
A second employee, a male, heard the scream and went to the stock room and found Heyward pointing a gun at the female clerk. Heyward made the man empty his pockets and took his wallet, credit cards, cash, cellphone and headphones, according to the criminal complaint.
Heyward attempted to open a safe in the store but was unsuccessful, detectives said. Heyward then tried to get the female employee to open the safe but later saw police and fled from the store, according to the criminal complaint.
Detectives said the investigation determined Heyward was a former employee of the Dollar Tree.
When Heyward was taken into custody by police,
he was found possessing the items he stole from the male clerk. Police also found Heyward to be in possession of a 9mm semiautomatic pistol. The investigation determined the gun had been reported stolen from a vehicle in Philadelphia in April 2019, according to court documents.
“Further examination of the firearm showed that the serial number was damaged in a manner consistent with attempting to scrape or file the number off, both on the slide and on the frame,” Craig alleged. “Based on my knowledge, training and experience, this is done to conceal the fact that the firearm is stolen, showing a reasonable belief that the firearm was stolen.”
With the robbery charges, prosecutors alleged that during the course of committing a theft, Heyward intentionally put others in fear of immediate serious bodily injury.
A charge of receiving stolen property was dismissed against Heyward at sentencing time in exchange for his guilty plea to the more serious robbery and gun charges.