A Hagerstown man charged with armed robbery pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree assault in Washington County Circuit Court and was sentenced to time served.
Judge W. Kennedy Boone III sentenced Joshua Eric Thomas, 30, of 912 Hamilton Boulevard, Apt. 7, to five years in state prison, suspending all but the time he has served since his arrest in August.
Boone also placed Thomas on three years’ probation and ordered him to pay $110 in restitution to the victim, Dale William Gish Jr.
“I don’t believe Mr. Thomas being incarcerated is really going to help him that much,” Gish told Boone during the plea hearing.
Gish said he did not know Thomas prior to the July 9 incident at the intersection of Norway Avenue and West Church Street in Hagerstown.
Gish told city that police he had dropped off a friend at the intersection at about 12:30 a.m. and was looking at his cellphone when the front passenger door of his car was flung open, and a man armed with a knife leaned in demanding money, according to the application for statement of charges.
The man yelled, “Give me your bank” to Gish, but then had to explain to him that he meant, “Give me your money,” the charging documents said. The man grabbed Gish’s wallet from the console, removed the money and fled, the documents said.
Gish identified Thomas as the robber from a photographic array on Aug. 19, the documents said.
In exchange for the plea, charges of armed robbery, robbery, theft, first-degree assault and reckless endangerment were dismissed, court records said.
