LIMA — An Indianapolis teenager who as a juvenile was one of four people from Indiana to carry out the armed robbery of a Walgreens pharmacy in Lima was sentenced as an adult Thursday in Allen County Common Pleas Court.
Senneca Rivers, 18, of Indianapolis, pleaded guilty to reduced charges in connection with the robbery that occurred in the early-morning hours of April 26 at the Walgreens store near the intersection of Allentown and Cable roads. He is one of four young Hoosiers to be charged in the incident.
According to Assistant Allen County Prosecutor Jana Emerick, Rivers and the others “drove from Indianapolis to rob a pharmacy at gunpoint” on the day in question. Rivers, who was 17 at the time, reportedly jumped over a counter in the pharmacy area of the store, pointed a gun at the pharmacist on duty and demanded he remove oxycodone from the safe. Emerick said oxycodone pills with a street value of $18,000 were given to the defendant before all four assailants fled from the store.
The quartet was stopped by police in Shelby County later that morning. The firearm reportedly used by Rivers was recovered at that time, the prosecutor said.
Rivers was subsequently charged with aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony and aggravated possession of drugs, a felony of the second degree. Both counts included the specification that a firearm was used during the commission of the crimes. He was bound over from juvenile court and was charged as an adult.
During Thursday’s hearing, Rivers withdrew his previous not guilty pleas and agreed to plead guilty to a reduced charge of aggravated burglary. Under the terms of a negotiated plea deal, the state agreed not to object to a five-year prison sentence on the burglary charge in addition to a mandatory three-year sentence for the gun specification and five years of mandatory parole following his release from prison.
That was exactly the sentence doled out by Judge David Cheney.
“This is quite a way to start your adult life, young man,” the judge told Rivers immediately prior to passing sentence.
A co-defendant in the case, Treyvon Manning, 19, of Indianapolis, has entered a guilty plea to a second-degree felony charge of robbery and will be sentenced Oct. 25. Quintez Hawkins, 19, of Indianapolis, is scheduled to appear in court Friday for a pre-trial hearing. The fourth person charged in the case, 26-year-old Abigail Lee of Indianapolis, is also facing charges of aggravated robbery with a firearm specification.
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