A man who helped rob a Pacific Beach service station was sentenced on Oct. 4 to five years in state prison.
Michael Beasley, 35, received five years from San Diego Superior Court Judge Polly Shamoon, who gave him credit for spending 74 days in jail.
The woman who was with Beasley, Shelley Lynn Petitt, 32, was sentenced to six years in prison on Sept. 24 by Shamoon. It was Petitt who displayed a BB gun to victims, who thought it was a real firearm, said Deputy District Attorney Daniel Shim.
Shim said Petitt held the gun while Beasley helped steal the money in the 4 p.m. hold-up July 29 of the Chevron station Food Mart on Garnet Avenue. The business lost several hundred dollars.
Both Beasley and Petitt pleaded guilty Aug. 26 to three robbery counts and charges of attempted robbery at an Escondido store were dropped. The other robbery counts involving a clothing store in Otay Mesa and another hold-up in Barstow.
Shamoon said the couple “decided to terrorize people” in the robberies and that the victims thought they might be killed if they didn’t hand over the cash fast enough. A status hearing for restitution to see if they should re-pay the victims was set for Oct. 23.
They are both from Ohio, having arrived in San Diego in the summer. They were arrested Aug. 1 in Valley Center.