Teenage robber sentenced
Toolbox
By Josh O'Gorman STAFF WRITER - Published: June 22, 2009
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A man has received a six-month prison sentence for robbing a Springfield convenience store.
Aaron J. Montgomery, 19, received the sentence Wednesday in White River Junction District Court after pleading guilty to a felony charge of assault and robbery with a weapon and misdemeanor charges of narcotics possession and providing false information to police. The charges carry a maximum penalty of more than 15 years in prison, but Deputy State's Attorney David Cahill said the plea agreement serves two functions.
"The first is punishment," Cahill said. "The second is to address what kind of person he will become."
Under the plea agreement, Montgomery received a three-to-five-year prison sentence, all suspended but six months to serve. He must also complete 500 hours of community service, obtain a high school diploma or equivalent degree, engage in substance-abuse counseling and submit to random testing for drugs and alcohol.
Montgomery pleaded guilty to the March 11 robbery of Midway Mobil on Route 106 in North Springfield, in which he entered the store with a knife and stole a small amount of cash and two cartons of cigarettes. Anita Frederickson, the clerk on duty at the time of the robbery, was in court and spoke directly to Montgomery.
"Aaron, I want you to know I will not judge you and I forgive you," she said. "I do not know you as a person, but I do believe in giving people second chances with the hope they can turn their lives around."
When given the opportunity to address the court, Montgomery reserved his comments for Frederickson.
"I'd just like to say I'm sorry to Anita," he said.
Calling the sentence "more than adequate," Judge Theresa DiMauro said the court needed to recognize Montgomery's age and she hoped he will use the plea agreement as an opportunity for change.
"Some of the people you were sitting with on the bench or in the back have been here many times," DiMauro said, referring to other defendants in court that day.
Montgomery's plea also encompassed charges unrelated to the robbery in which he beat himself up and told police someone else had assaulted him, all to avoid paying money he owed his mother.
Montgomery also agreed to provide information about any illegal activity he is aware of, including in cases pending against Melinda Wakefield, 27, and Josiah Hale, 19, both of Chester, who are accused of participating in the Midway Mobil robbery.
josh.ogorman@rutlandherald.com
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