A Hillsboro man was sentenced on Monday to four years in prison after he pled guilty to aggravated robbery, a first degree felony, in relation to a theft at Walmart late last year.
As previously reported, Kasey Shandel Wright, 18, pled guilty to the charge in March in Highland County Common Pleas Court.
In December 2017, Wright brandished what appeared to be a handgun as he took two cartons of cigarettes from the Hillsboro Walmart with a juvenile accomplice in tow, police said.
As an investigation unfolded, Wright and the juvenile were apprehended, and authorities recovered a pellet/BB gun believed to be the object Wright brandished.
On Monday, Judge Rocky Coss said Wright was lucky an armed bystander didn’t shoot him and the juvenile, adding that “when someone sticks a weapon in someone’s face… everyone acts as if it were a real weapon.”
In accordance with a joint recommendation from prosecution and defense, Coss ordered Wright serve four years in prison with 133 days credit for time served.
A specification that Wright displayed, brandished, indicated possession of or used a firearm during the commission of the crime was dismissed as part of a plea agreement, as well as one count of theft, a first-degree misdemeanor.
The juvenile in the case, who was also charged with aggravated robbery, admitted in February that he accompanied Wright during the robbery, according to the Highland County Prosecutor’s Office. He was ordered to complete a two-year term at the Department of Youth Services.
Reach David Wright at 937-402-2570, or on Twitter @DavidWrighter.
