Two men plead guilty to Mt. Morris bakery robbery
From left, Alan Michael Lipscomb and Mark Alan Paugh
Alan Michael Lipscomb
Mark Alan Paugh
WAYNESBURG – Two men who robbed the Rising Creek Bakery in Mt. Morris in September pleaded guilty Friday before Greene County Judge William Nalitz and were each sentenced to 2 to 4 years in prison.
Alan Michael Lipscomb, 22, of 150 Haines Ridge Road, Mt. Morris, and Mark Alan Paugh, 21, of 144 Hobbs Run Road, Mt. Morris, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery, conspiracy to commit theft and conspiracy to commit simple assault.
Both were ordered to pay $453 in restitution jointly to the bakery, received credit for time served and were recommended for the Recidivism Risk Reduction Incentive program, which could lessen their minimum sentence, after receiving a waiver of ineligibility for the program from prosecutors.
A third defendant in the robbery, Daniel Patrick Johnson, 21, of 248 Big Shannon Run Road, Mt. Morris, faces the same charges. Johnson’s case is scheduled for jury selection Feb. 25.
According to state police, two of the men entered the bakery around 3:54 p.m. on Sept. 19. One brandished a large knife and demanded money from store employees.
Employees told police one of the men was wearing a yellow hooded sweatshirt and the other a blue hooded sweatshirt. Both had covered their faces with bandanas. Store employees provided police with video from a surveillance camera.
As police were leaving the bakery, the bakery received a call from Sorella’s Pizza on Mt. Morris Road alerting them to three men at the pizza shop who were acting nervously. The caller said she saw a yellow sweatshirt in the backseat of their vehicle.
Police went to the pizza shop and encountered Paugh, Johnson and another man outside. A trooper looked in the window of Johnson’s vehicle and saw the yellow sweatshirt.
Police said Johnson gave them permission to search the vehicle. The sweatshirt matched one viewed in the surveillance video, police said. Police also found several hypodermic needles and under the front seat, a large kitchen knife matching the description of the one used in the robbery.
In statements to police, the two men indicated they were with Lipscomb at the time of the robbery, police said.
They also were barred from the bakery and ordered to have no contact with bakery employees after serving their prison sentence.