WINONA – A Holmes County man pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and accessory after the fact in connection with a 2017 armed robbery.
Devonte Stewart, 20, entered a guilty plea before Judge Joseph Loper, Jr., in Montgomery County Circuit Court on Tuesday.
Loper postponed imposing a sentence until October 5, however, as part of a plea agreement with the prosecution, Stewart will likely serve 20 years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections for aggravated assault and 10 years for accessory after the fact, with the sentences to run concurrently. As part of the plea agreement, the charge of armed robbery was dismissed.
Loper told Stewart he is not obligated to impose the proposed sentence.
Represented by attorney Brad Daigneault of Grenada, Stewart pleaded guilty to his part in a December 15, 2017, armed robbery of a female employee at a Winona Dry Cleaning. According to police, the victim was robbed of two bank bags as she exited the building for the evening.
“[The robber] approached her near her vehicle,” Captain Dan Herod, chief investigator for the Winona Police Department, said at the time of the incident. “He told her to give him the money, and she said no. He took a gun out of his pocket and put it to her head. Then he pushed her into the car.”
Herod said the robber took the bank bags and headed south across the parking lot and appeared to be heading toward a white Chevrolet Empala, when he turned and headed across Applegate Street and through the parking lot near the Winona Career and Technical Center.
“A citizen saw the subject running from the store and pursued the subject in his vehicle to see where he went,” Herod said. “At that time a shot was fired [from the robber] on the Fairground side of the school. No one was injured.”
Herod said the citizen and a resident of the area were able to point police in the direction in which the suspect headed, and officers began searching the area on foot. The suspect was taken into custody soon after.
