Published: December 01, 2008 08:33 pm      

Pharmacy robber gets 30 years

PRINCETON — A Raleigh County man who had pleaded guilty to robbing a local pharmacy in April this year was sentenced Monday in Mercer County Circuit Court to 30 years imprisonment.

Rafael Teet, 27, of Beckley pleaded guilty in late September to first-degree robbery, which is the same as armed robbery. Teet also consented to Judge William Sadler’s finding that a firearm was used in the crime’s commission.

Teet and 21-year-old Latasha Williams of Beckley were arrested April 22 after the robbery of Hickman’s Pharmacy in Princeton. The incident started when Teet entered the Rogers Street business, showed a handgun and demanded a prescription narcotic called Percoet, investigators said. Teet took seven bottles of the drug and fled in a white Buick driven by Williams.

The pair led officers with the Princeton Police Department, West Virginia State Police and the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department on a high speed chase up Interstate 77 to Raleigh County. One witness who was traveling south at that time said 17 police crusiers were in pursuit. Pills that were thrown from the fleeing car were recovered at the Mercer-Raleigh County line. Both Teet and Williams were arrested in Beckley that same day.

During Monday’s hearing, Judge Sadler sentenced Teet to a determinate term of 30 years in prison, according to the Mercer County Circuit Clerk’s Office.

First-degree robbery carries a penalty of no less than 10 years in prison. There is no limit on the sentence a judge can impose, and Teet will not be eligible for parole or probation until one third of his sentence has been served, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ash said at the time of Teet’s plea.

Williams pleaded guilty to charges stemming for the robbery. Judge Sadler sentenced her in mid-October to a term of 1-5 years for conspiracy and 1-3 years on an information for attempt to commit a felony. The sentences are running consecutively.