‘Muscle’ in robbery attempt handed 7 years in prison

A defendant labeled as the muscle in a botched robbery attempt last April outside a New Kent County restaurant must serve the next seven years behind bars.

Charles Frederick Kirby, 28, of 3839 Poverty Hall Road, Quinton, cooperated with authorities starting immediately after being apprehended for the April 11 crime, and Judge Thomas B. Hoover took that into consideration before imposing sentence.

“If you had not testified, I would impose at least 10 and more like 15 years in prison,” the judge told Kirby during sentencing on Dec. 21 in New Kent Circuit Court.

Hoover handed Kirby 10 years each on convictions for attempted robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery, suspending for the next 20 years all 10 on the conspiracy count and three for attempted robbery. Kirby pleaded guilty to both during an Oct. 21 trial.

Late last April 11 as the owner of Prima Pizza on Route 60 was leaving the restaurant with the day’s receipts, a man wearing a ski mask confronted her in the parking lot. She told investigators she got into her car, at which time the masked man brandished a small silver handgun.

The woman refused to hand over the cash, and the commotion attracted another restaurant employee who tackled the masked man. The would-be robber, however, managed to get away, run to a nearby pickup truck, and speed off into the Five Lakes subdivision.

New Kent Sheriff’s Deputy Jim Anthony, on patrol in the area, intercepted the pickup a short time later and found the driver to be Kirby. During trial, prosecutor Randy Del Rossi said Kirby began confessing on the spot and implicated two accomplices. An employee for Brookwoods Golf Course, meanwhile, found a silver handgun wrapped in a ski mask on a fairway the next day.

Kirby’s on-the-spot confession led authorities to Neal Alan Truslow Jr., dubbed by Del Rossi as the brains of the operation, and Misty Sharee Lail, who worked as a waitress at the restaurant and earned Del Rossi’s label of insider. Phone calls Kirby received from Lail while in Anthony’s presence enabled Deputy Jerry Simpson to arrest Truslow and Lail that same night, moments after the pair drove up to Kirby’s home.

A jury convicted Truslow, 29, of 5400 Coxson Road, Richmond, on similar charges in September. He is serving seven years in prison. Lail, 30, of 1340 Schoolhouse Road, Varina, cut a plea deal in October whereby she pleaded guilty to conspiracy while attempted robbery was dropped. She is serving three years of a 10-year term.

At Kirby’s sentencing, defense attorney Todd Duval argued that his client should not receive any more active time than Lail, who, he said, “made this happen.” Commonwealth’s Attorney Linwood Gregory, meanwhile, agreed Kirby should receive some consideration.

“He could have kept his mouth shut and taken the rap, and we probably wouldn’t have known about Lail and Truslow,” Gregory told the court.

Hoover, however, took issue with Kirby’s claim that a handgun was never involved. The judge also noted that the victim in the incident has been devastated by what transpired.

“You’re the one person that confronted her,” Hoover told Kirby. “Truslow may have precipitated the idea and Lail provided information, but you were the perpetrator.”