LIMA — The fourth and final Indiana resident charged in the armed robbery of a Lima Walgreens pharmacy in April pleaded guilty to reduced charges during an appearance Wednesday in Allen County Common Pleas Court.
Abigail Lee, 26, of Indianapolis, faces up to three years in prison when she is sentenced Feb. 16 but is widely expected to receive a much lighter sentence due to her relatively minor role in the armed robbery and her cooperation with prosecutors since her arrest.
Lee was one of four Indianapolis residents who prosecutors say traveled to Lima for the explicit purpose of robbing a pharmacy to obtain the pain-killing drug oxycodone. The robbers settled on the Walgreens store in Lima at the corner of Cable and Allentown roads. Two members of the group entered the store in the early morning hours of April 26. The quintet was apprehended hours later in Shelby County following a traffic stop.
Lee was indicted by an Allen County grand jury with aggravated robbery with a firearm specification. During her appearance before Judge David Cheney on Wednesday, she entered a plea of guilty to a reduced charge of obstructing justice, a third-degree felony.
Two of Lee’s co-defendants have been sentenced for their roles in the robbery, and a third is awaiting sentencing after being convicted by an Allen County jury last week.
Senneca Rivers, 18, of Indianapolis, pleaded guilty in October to a reduced charge of aggravated burglary in connection with the robbery and was sentenced to five years in prison, with a mandatory additional three-year sentence for carrying a gun during the execution of the crime.
Prosecutors had alleged that Rivers 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. Assistant Allen County Prosecuting Attorney Jana Emerick during a previous court appearance said oxycodone pills with a street value of $18,000 were given to the defendant before all four assailants fled from the store.
Treyvon Manning, 19, was sentenced earlier this month to three years in prison as a participant in the armed robbery. Quintez Hawkins, 19, was convicted by a jury last week on charges of aggravated robbery with a firearm specification. He will be sentenced Jan. 21.
