Two of six men accused of being part of a central Arkansas robbery ring that carried out at least 20 armed robberies of fast-food restaurants, gas stations and convenience stores in 2012 and early 2013 pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday.
The two, Mike Dewayne Waller, 47, and Justin Prince Pettis, 25, both of Little Rock, negotiated guilty pleas ahead of a jury trial that is scheduled to begin Monday but will likely be postponed because of plea negotiations underway with other defendants.
Waller admitted to being part of a conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, as well as to participating in four armed robberies, for which he faces up to 100 years in prison and a fine of up to $1.25 million. He also agreed to pay $31,353.05 in restitution, jointly and severally with his co-defendants.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Benecia Moore told U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes that as part of the agreement, she will recommend that Waller serve his sentences consecutively, which would total 100 years if the judge imposed the 20-year statutory maximum on each conviction. But she acknowledged that the judge has the discretion to order whether the sentences be served concurrently or consecutively.
Waller admitted to participating in an armed robbery at 9:35 p.m. on Aug. 23, 2012, at the Wendy's restaurant at 10924 Colonel Glenn Road, in which three masked men, two with pistols, forced the manager to open a safe and give them the money in it and the cash register. Waller said he stayed in the back, holding a gun on other workers to make sure none of them used their cellphones.
He said he participated in an armed robbery just after 7 p.m. on Nov. 10, 2012, at a Doublebee's store in Lonoke, in which he took a Mountain Dew to the counter, pulled a BB gun that looked like a real gun, and made the cashier give him cash from both the register and a safe before ordering her to lie on the ground.
Waller also admitted to joining two other men in the armed robbery of a Citgo station in Carlisle on Feb. 3, 2013, which began with he and another man taking Mountain Dews to the register and then pointing a pistol at the clerk.
"He said there wasn't no safe, so we turned around and headed out," Waller told the judge.
He also admitted to participating in an armed robbery at 11:23 p.m. on Feb. 28, 2013, at the Shell Superstop on Interstate 30 in Bryant, in which he and another man went inside and demanded that the clerk give them money from the register, then lie facedown in a back room.
In that robbery, a witness outside saw the masked men walk out from behind the cash register and followed their vehicle, calling in the license plate number to police. A Bryant police officer was on the service road when he saw the license plate on a car going past him and began a pursuit that ended when police used spike strips to stop the fleeing car, in which they found hats, bandannas, jackets, a BB gun and a loaded 9mm pistol, as well as the $380 that was taken from the gas station.
Moore said that Waller admitted in a taped statement to committing several robberies, including those to which he pleaded guilty. In exchange for his guilty plea, she dropped nine other charges that were pending against him.
Pettis pleaded guilty to the main conspiracy charge and to one other charge of interference with commerce by robbery, admitting that he was the getaway driver in the Feb. 28, 2013, robbery of the Shell that resulted in the arrests of him, Waller and Tony Bernard Smith. In return for Pettis' guilty pleas, Moore dropped two other charges against him.
Last week, Smith, 30, appeared before Holmes to plead guilty to the main charge of conspiracy and to four individual counts of interference with commerce by robbery, but the plea fell through when he described in his own words what happened during one of the robberies.
Smith admitted that he was the driver of the getaway car after a robbery of the Shell Superstop in Benton about 1 p.m. Jan. 13, 2013, but he said he didn't know ahead of time that his friend planned to rob the store. He said he found out about the robbery on their way back to Little Rock and that he didn't get any money because the only thing taken was $200 worth of cigarettes.
Holmes said he couldn't accept the plea on that charge because Smith's story amounted to being an accomplice after the fact. He said he would accept Smith's guilty pleas to the four other charges -- conspiracy and three robberies that he described participating in -- but Moore withdrew the entire plea agreement when Smith was unable to admit to all five charges. There were two other charges that prosecutors were prepared to drop if Smith pleaded guilty to the five charges. His attorney, Jeff Rosenzweig, told the court that they would regroup and see about scheduling another plea hearing before the trial date.
Last year, Antwann Deshawn Sockwell, 26, of Little Rock pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge and admitted to participating in one of the robberies. He is now serving a 96-month sentence.
Still scheduled for trial are Smith, Daniel Glenn Caple, 22, of Amity in Clark County, and Christopher Earnest Bell, 38, of Little Rock.
Metro on 04/02/2015