Co-defendants Sentenced to Serve 3 to 7 Years for Robbing Norfolk 7-Eleven Clerk
NORFOLK, Va. — Thomas Kennedy Jr. and Walter Lamont Chatman have both been sentenced to prison for their parts in a robbery earlier this year inside a 7-Eleven. Mr. Kennedy was sentenced on Sept. 19 to serve seven years for robbery and for violating his probation from a prior offense, and Mr. Chatman was sentenced on Thursday, Oct. 10, to serve three years in prison after he pleaded guilty to robbery and conspiring to commit robbery.
On Jan. 18, Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Chatman entered the 7-Eleven at 6900 N. Military Highway and robbed the clerk of cigarettes. To set up the robbery, Mr. Chatman attempted to create a diversion by taking a glass bottle from the refrigerator, dropping it on the floor, and calling out to the store’s clerk to clean up the mess. The clerk called back out to Mr. Chatman from behind the check-out counter to leave the mess alone and that it would be cleaned up later. Meanwhile, Mr. Kennedy poured himself a cup of coffee and approached the counter. When the clerk did not move from behind the counter to assist Mr. Chatman, Mr. Kennedy threw his cup of coffee on the clerk’s chest and hit him in the face. Mr. Chatman then picked up a sign from the floor and hit the clerk with it while Mr. Kennedy went behind the counter and grabbed cartons of cigarettes from the display area. Both defendants then fled the store with the cartons of cigarettes.
The clerk fortunately was not injured during the assault and was able to provide surveillance footage to Norfolk Police. When Mr. Kennedy was later arrested, he waived his Miranda rights, spoke with the detectives, and identified himself in the surveillance footage. Both men were charged with robbery using force and conspiring to commit robbery by force.
Mr. Kennedy entered an agreement on July 23 to plead guilty to robbery by force, and the Commonwealth agreed to dismiss the other charge with no agreement to Mr. Kennedy’s sentence. Judge Joseph C. Lindsey accepted Mr. Kennedy’s plea agreement and sentenced Mr. Kennedy to serve five years in prison with another five years suspended on the condition that he complete five years of uniform good behavior following his release. Judge Lindsey also found Mr. Kennedy in violation of his probation for prior offenses and ordered Mr. Kennedy to serve two years of a previously suspended sentence on top of his robbery sentence, bringing Mr. Kennedy’s total active sentence to seven years.
On Oct. 10, Mr. Chatman entered an agreement to plead guilty to both of his charges and serve three years in prison with another 12 years suspended on the conditions that he be of uniform good behavior for seven years and complete two years of supervised probation following his release. Judge Mary Jane Hall accepted Mr. Chatman’s plea agreement and sentenced him per the agreement.
“Not every violent crime involves a gun. Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Chatman endangered and harmed the victim here using the items around them, and we are fortunate that they did not hurt the clerk permanently. My thoughts are first and most with the clerk,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “Both men will now serve a prison sentence for the violent robbery that they have committed. As always, the prosecutors in this office will focus our efforts on holding accountable the perpetrators of violent crime.”
Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Emily A. Woodley prosecuted both co-defendant’s robbery cases, Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi prosecuted Mr. Kennedy’s probation violations, and Norfolk Police Detective Patrick A. Garvey led the investigation.
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