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Suspect in gas station robberies pleads guilty

April 01, 2008|Fred Petke

The final suspect in two December gas station robberies entered his guilty plea Monday morning.

Kenneth A. Johnson, 18, agreed to a combined 10-year sentence for one count each of facilitation to commit first-degree robbery and complicity to commit first-degree robbery after providing the car for both robberies. Prosecutors offered Johnson the same agreement as his other co-defendants. Should the plea agreements be accepted by Circuit Judge William Jennings, all five will be sentenced to 10 years.

"I just got in with the wrong crowd," Johnson told Jennings Monday morning.

The four co-defendants, 19-year-old Jamie L. Mulligan, 18-year-old Keith Wayne Hall, 19-year-old Stephen W. Day II and 17-year-old Jesse Brandenburg, all pleaded guilty on March 19. Johnson and his attorney, Tim Despotes, decided to resibmit their case to the grand jury, after Jennings mentioned a grand juror possibly being disqualified. Despotes said he wanted the additional time to seek answers to a few questions.

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The others, though, said Johnson drove the car and provided the weapon for the two robberies.

The group was charged with the Dec. 2, 2007 robbery of the Marathon station at 50 Hubbard Road and of Gasoline Alley on Dec. 7 near Rockwell Road. Between the two, approximately $1,300 was reported as stolen.

Hall and Brandenburg each pleaded guilty to one of the robberies and facilitation in the other. The agreement calls for them to be sentenced to 10 years and five years for the two charges, to be served concurrently.

Mulligan and Day pleaded guilty to two counts of facilitation, with five years for each to be served consecutively.

All five will be sentenced on April 24.

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