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Man down on his luck pleas guilty to armed robbery
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
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A man claiming to have lost his wife, job, farm and driver's license when he was arrested for armed robbery of a liquor store last December pleaded guilty to the robbery in court last week.
Lewis Charles Johns, 46, of North Beach pleaded guilty to armed robbery and carrying a dangerous weapon with intent to injure on May 11 in the Calvert County Circuit Court.
Johns was indicted in January for holding a knife on an employee of Sunderland Wine and Spirits store and robbing the store of $330 on Dec. 2, 2008. According to charging documents, the employee told police the robber dragged him to the register while holding an 8- to 9-inch knife to his chest and said, "If you don't give me your money, I will kill you."
The same two deputies who responded to the robbery, Michael Naecker and Andre Mitchell, were on patrol in Chesapeake Beach the following night and saw the vehicle described by the store's employee, a dark-colored Pontiac Bonneville, the charging documents state. When they stopped the vehicle, which had "two equipment violations," the driver of the vehicle with expired Virginia tags, Johns, did not have a valid driver's license and performed poorly on a field sobriety test.
During a search of the vehicle, deputies saw a folding knife in the center console. When they took Johns in for questioning, he said he was at the liquor store and became upset with the clerk, but he did not intend to rob the store. Johns said he was "down on his luck having lost his job, wife, farm and license," and he took the money from the register due to his hardships, according to charging documents.
As a result of the plea, charges of first- and second-degree assault, false imprisonment and theft have been dismissed.
Johns, who is represented by attorney Mark Carmean of Lamson, LeBlanc and Carmean law firm, will be sentenced June 15 at 10 a.m., according to judicial records.
