Attorney: Store robbery was ‘call for help’
WAYNESBURG – The lawyer for Willie Jones said “it was a call for help” when his client used a toy gun to rob Stokes General Merchandise in Wind Ridge last month.
Jones, 24, of Wind Ridge, was a regular customer at Stokes and easily recognized when he went into the store Aug. 27, called his father using a cordless phone before pulling out a painted toy handgun and demanding money, a clerk and the shop’s owner testified during his preliminary hearing Monday afternoon.
His defense attorney, Gary Graminski, said Jones had no intention of hurting anyone in the store and that his strange behavior before and during the robbery will build the case that he was not thinking clearly at the time.
“These are intent crimes,” Graminski said. “Because he has had a history of drug-related issues, we’ll be able to present evidence that he would not have known what was transpiring.”
District Judge Louis Dayich held Jones for trial on a felony robbery charge and misdemeanor count of theft by unlawful taking. Jones remains at Greene County jail on $100,000 cash.
Ian Snyder, a cashier in the store, testified that Jones “was acting a little strange” when he spent an hour walking outside the shop and came inside several times before asking for a pen and paper. He left, but returned minutes later, asking to use a cordless phone to call his father.
“That was unusual,” Snyder said. “Usually he comes in, buys something and leave.”
Snyder was holding his month-old niece while his sister-in-law, Diane Stokes, who owns the store, worked on invoices. That’s when Snyder said Jones handed him a piece of paper demanding cash.
“Hand me the money and the green bag or I’ll shoot,” the note said.
“I thought he was joking,” Snyder said. “It seemed totally out of the blue. It was nonsensical.”
Snyder asked Jones to leave, but Jones pulled out what appeared to be a black revolver and again asked for the money. Snyder then gave him a stack of money, which later was determined to be $383, and Jones left without further incident. Snyder testified he was in fear for his life and that of Stokes’ infant daughter.
Stokes testified she heard Jones make one phone call before calling his father and asking to speak to his mother. She later heard Snyder tell Jones to leave before the cashier told her they had been robbed.
“He was acting a little weird,” Stokes said.
Graminski said that behavior and a phone call to his parents showed Jones was in a state of “serious confusion” and in search of help. He added that it would be illogical for anyone to rob a store that he visits regularly and which he’d be easily recognized.
State police arrested Jones at his Kuhn Hill Road home less than an hour after the robbery.
“He likes these people,” Graminski said. “He’s not happy with what happened. He never intended to hurt them.”
A formal arraignment on the charges against Jones has not been scheduled.