Ax robbery suspect pleads guilty
Toolbox
By Thatcher Moats Times Argus Staff - Published: November 19, 2008
BARRE – Crime doesn't pay, especially this one.
A Cabot man on Monday admitted to robbing a store in Woodbury last winter with the help of another man who was allegedly carrying an ax.
They made off with only $20, according to court records.
For that offense, Robert Martino, 21, pleaded guilty to petit larceny and assault and robbery and will serve at least 90 days behind bars for the larceny. However, his five-year sentence for assault and robbery was deferred. The petit larceny sentence was nine months to one year, but was suspended except for the 90 days.
There were other conditions in the plea agreement Martino struck with the state: He'll have a curfew; he can't use drugs or alcohol; he will have to submit to a screening for substance abuse treatment; he must send a letter to a local newspaper apologizing to the community; and he must be willing to testify against his co-defendant.
As the state worked on the plea deal, prosecutors weighed two factors.
"The state is taking into consideration that he had no prior record and was not carrying the ax," said Washington County Deputy State's Attorney Kristin Wood.
Martino's co-defendant is 22-year-old Brian Rossell, who is still facing a charge of assault and robbery with a weapon.
According to the affidavit filed by the Vermont State Police, Martino and Rossell were wearing hoods when they walked into the Woodbury Village Store last February. Rossell demanded $20 from a clerk, and he opened his jacket to show the clerk he was carrying an ax, court records state.
Once the two men had the $20, Martino demanded more money, but Bolio turned him down and said, "I gave you the $20," the affidavit states. Martino then repeated his demand, but Bolio again turned him down, and the two men left, court records show.
Police soon arrested the pair.
The two store clerks were left shaken by the event, according to statements Wood read in the courtroom on their behalf.
One of the clerks, Vera Batchelder, 74, wrote, "Our customers tell me I have lost my smile."
"This incident has badly shaken my faith in people. I wonder about every stranger that comes in the door," Batchelder wrote. "I have worked with meeting and greeting people for 35 years in very public places – I feel very differently since this happened."
The other clerk, Angela Bolio, 24, said that since the robbery, she has lost her trust in people.
"I don't look at people the same way that I don't know," her statement read. "Working in a small store I see many new people and when they come in I ask myself can I trust them?"
Martino's lawyer, Gregory McNaughton, said his client never would have committed the crime if he had known how it would affect the two clerks.
"If Mr. Martino could have anticipated in any way that he would be hearing the words we have been hearing in court today, he wouldn't have done it," McNaughton said.
Judge Brian Grearson asked Martino if he had anything to say.
"I want to apologize to the victims and my family and friends," he said. "If I could go back, I would."
Martino said the crime happened because he didn't have any money and was hanging out with the wrong people.
"I like to think of myself as an honorable person and I just made a mistake," he said.
Grearson said Martino has to understand the consequences of such mistakes and mentioned Bolio's loss of trust in other people.
"You shattered that trust," Grearson said.
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