Driver pleads guilty in robbery
A man, charged as the getaway driver during the robbery of a Slippery Rock restaurant, pleaded guilty to the crime in Butler County Court on Wednesday.
Robert L. Coburn, 33, pleaded guilty to felony conspiracy to robbery before county Judge William Shaffer.
The plea agreement calls for a sentence of county imprisonment for one year minus one day to two years minus one day and a consecutive term of probation. He is scheduled for sentencing on July 13.
He will also receive time credit for inpatient rehabilitation. His attorney, Dennis McCurdy, said Coburn accepts responsibility for his actions and since his time in rehabilitation, has had a “dramatic change in his behavior and his life.”
Coburn was charged alongside Terrence J. Mack, 25, who pleaded guilty to the crime on Tuesday, after an incident at the Subway restaurant, 432 S. Main St., Slippery Rock, on May 18, 2016.
Borough police said a man wearing a black hooded coat and a gray ski mask entered the store around 6 p.m. demanded the store's money box after threatening two employees with a hammer. He then fled in a vehicle.
Employees identified the man as Mack, a former employee, by his voice as well as witnessing him take off the mask as he ran to the vehicle.
The vehicle was later pulled over on New Castle Street, with Coburn driving.
The affidavit states police found Mack in the passenger seat wearing a black hooded jacket with cash totaling $297, as well as a yellow-and-black framing hammer, a gray ski mask and a black steel money box on the passenger-side floor board.
The document states that Coburn told police that he picked up Mack, who asked him to drive to the rear of the shop, and Mack got out before returning a short time later and “yelling to him to 'Drive!'”
The affidavit states Coburn admitted he did not have a driver's license and is taking multiple prescription medications, and he was arrested and charged.
Coburn's initial charges included felony robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, misdemeanor theft and possession of an of instrument of crime. The remaining charges were dismissed due to the plea.
Coburn remains out of prison on $10,000 unsecured bail after he was released on May 26, 2016.
