AUGUSTA — A former Pittston woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to robbing The Big Apple convenience store in June on Stone Street in Augusta.
Jessica L. Morang, 38, now of Augusta, is scheduled to return to the Capital Judicial Center on Jan. 10, 2017, for imposition of the sentence, which the prosecutor told the judge Wednesday is an agreed-upon 24 months if all goes well between now and then.
Justice Robert Mullen warned Morang that if there are any problems, the maximum sentence available to the court for the robbery conviction is 10 years of imprisonment.
Her attorney, Stephen Bourget, said Morang “voluntarily entered a substance abuse treatment plan and is doing very well.”
Assistant District Attorney Kate Marshall described the robbery, which occurred about 5 a.m. June 21, when a woman wearing a hooded sweatshirt, sunglasses and plaid pajama pants walked into the store past a clerk who was outside on a smoke break.
Marshall said the woman told the clerk “Sorry, hon, this is a robbery,” and the clerk asked if she was serious. The woman said she was.
Marshall said the sweatshirt had a pocket, and the suspect put her hand in “and gesticulated as if she was a carrying a weapon,” so the clerk thought there was a weapon.
The clerk handed over $270, and the woman left. Surveillance video showed a pickup truck leaving the scene, and it was later identified as belonging to Morang’s father. Marshall said it was being driven by a co-defendant, Abraham C. Matt, now 31, formerly of Augusta and Whitefield. A trash bag containing the clothes Morang wore during the robbery was found at Morang’s father’s home, where Morang and Matt lived for a time, the prosecutor said.
Augusta police arrested Morang on the robbery charge on Aug. 2.
When he was arrested, Matt told police he and Morang had a drug problem, Marshall said.
Matt was sentenced in October for committing a separate robbery July 25, 2016, at the same store and is serving to 42 months in prison.
Morang previously served 18 months in prison on a burglary charge.
“If you got into trouble again, any sentence you receive undoubtedly will be harsher because of this,” Mullen said on Wednesday. “I don’t know if you’ve ever been robbed before, but it’s a very frightening experience. I can just imagine how it felt when it happened.”
As part of the sentence, the state is seeking $270 restitution, Marshall said.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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