Lower Pottsgrove man jailed for robbing elderly woman

NORRISTOWN >> A Lower Pottsgrove man is on his way to jail after he admitted to the strong-arm robbery of an elderly woman in the parking lot of a local supermarket.

Nicholas Augustus Thomas, 38, of the 200 block of Maple Glenn Circle, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 10-to-23-months in the county jail after he pleaded guilty to felony charges of robbery and fleeing and eluding police in connection with the 9:50 a.m. May 7, 2018, incident outside the Landis Supermarket in the 2100 block of East High Street in Lower Pottsgrove.

Judge Steven C. Tolliver also ordered Thomas to complete five years’ probation following parole, meaning Thomas will be under court supervision for about seven years.

An investigation began when township police responded to the supermarket for a report of a strong arm robbery of a 77-yearold woman who had been shopping at the store.

“(The victim) advised that she was shopping inside of the Landis Supermarket and noticed a male following her inside of the store. (The victim) advised that she went outside of the store and was loading her groceries into her car when she was approached by the same male that had been following her,” Lower Pottsgrove Detective Joseph Campbell wrote in the arrest affidavit. “The male offered to help her load her groceries, which she declined.”

The victim told detectives the man then grabbed her purse, which was in her left hand. The woman’s finger was stuck in the strap of the purse when the man pulled it away and she sustained a laceration on her finger, detectives alleged.

Witnesses told police the man ran to a black sedan and drove from the parking lot and was last seen driving west on East High Street, according to court papers. The victim and witnesses provided a description of the robber, his car and its license plate number, which authorities traced to Thomas.

At approximately 11:09 a.m. police observed the suspect’s vehicle in the Maple Glenn Village development. As officers attempted to stop the vehicle, the suspect fled at a high rate of speed and a short pursuit was initiated by several Lower Pottsgrove officers, according to the criminal complaint.

The suspect fled west on East High Street and then tried to elude police by entering the CVS parking lot, police said. After nearly striking a patrol vehicle head-on, the suspect fled back onto High Street.

Out of concern for public safety, police discontinued the pursuit.

A short time later, a citizen approached police and advised that he observed someone discarding property from a vehicle as it traveled on East High Street at a bridge over Sprogel’s Run Creek, according to court documents. Police subsequently recovered the discarded property, including a woman’s wallet and a checkbook that contained multiple forms of identification belonging to the victim of the robbery.

When Thomas returned to his Maple Glen Circle residence about 11:30 a.m. he was taken into custody by waiting police. Police alleged a four-year-old child also was in the vehicle. Thomas subsequently admitted to the robbery and to fleeing from police while the child was in his vehicle.

In exchange for his guilty plea to the most serious robbery charge, other charges of endangering the welfare of a child, recklessly endangering other persons, theft by unlawful taking and hindering apprehension were dismissed against Thomas.