The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

October 27, 2012

Pizza holdup yields 2 to 6 years

By Joe Pinchot Herald Staff Writer

MERCER COUNTY — Dawn A. Hailstock did not want to get into a public airing of Jason Drummond Jr.’s life, but she wanted people to know something about him, at least in general.

“Jason’s had a hard time,” Hailstock told Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge Robert G Yeatts.

Drummond has issues yet to be dealt with. “He needs counseling for his anger,” Hailstock said. “He needs counseling for the pain that he is suffering.” But he’s turning things around, she said.

In the last five months, his attitude has changed for the better, Hailstock said. His fiancé, Dericka Robinson, said he has “gotten a relationship with God,” and she doesn’t believe he deserves jail.

“He’s a good kid,” Hailstock said.

“Good kids don’t lure pizza deliverymen and then rob them,” Yeatts responded.

Drummond has not built on the family support he has had over the years, Yeatts said.

“I made a mistake,” said Drummond, who fathered two children before he turned 18 and has another on the way. “I have to take my punishment for it. I hope I can make up for it.”

Yeatts sentenced Drummond to 2 to 6 years in prison with 51 days’ credit on a charge of conspiracy to commit robbery.

Drummond, 19, of 2909 Spangler Road, Hermitage, was 16 when he helped plan the Jan. 3, 2010, robbery of a Four Star Pizza delivery man.

The victim was robbed of a pizza, three submarine sandwiches and $76 at 9:08 p.m. by two masked men, one of whom was holding a gun, in the 200 block of Orange Drive, Hermitage police said.

Police said they followed tracks in the snow to the Hermitage apartment of Alton J. Lang. Lang initially denied involvement in the robbery, claiming he had been sleeping, but confessed and named Drummond – whom he knew only as “Brezz” – after police found wet shoes and pants and two subs in the apartment, police said.

Lang admitted he had the gun, and that he and Drummond came up with the idea together, police said.

The sticker tags on the subs corresponded with the order, police said.

No one answered at the apartment Drummond shared with his girlfriend, police said. After obtaining a search warrant, police entered the apartment with a pass key and found Drummond and the girlfriend, police said.

A Four Star pizza warmer bag and a half-eaten pizza were found, police said. Drummond had a bag of marijuana in his pocket, police said.

Drummond said he was not present when the robbery was committed, but he was part of the planning. Whether Drummond was there or not, he knew it was going to happen, Yeatts said.

“You had time to call it off and you didn’t,” Yeatts said.

Lang – who was 22 at the time of the robbery – previously pleaded guilty to a charge of robbery and was sentenced May 20, 2010, to 3 to 6 years in prison.

There was a dispute over whether a deadly weapon enhancement applied in Drummond’s case. While Yeatts said Drummond did not address possessing the gun at his plea hearing, the judge used Drummond’s statement in the presentence investigation as an affirmation.

As part of Drummond’s plea, prosecutors withdrew charges stemming from an alleged theft at Walmart in Hermitage and an unspecified juvenile court case, but Drummond agreed to pay restitution stemming from all three cases, $709.

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