Man pleads guilty to stun-gun stick-ups

A Charlottesville man accused in stun-gun robberies at two city Exxons pleaded guilty to several charges Monday.

Taquan Lovelle Anderson, 18, pleaded guilty to two counts each of robbery and unlawful wounding during a felony and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon. A city circuit court judge accepted a plea agreement, which will cap Anderson’s active prison sentence at 12 years.

Assistant Common-wealth’s Attorney Joseph Platania said his office is asking for a 10-year active sentence. A judge will determine how much additional suspended prison time Anderson will receive.

“The police said Anderson was cooperative with them,” Platania said in court. The defendant’s age and lack of an adult criminal history also affected the prosecution’s recommendation.

On the night of Oct. 11, a clerk at the Cherry Avenue Exxon was on his way to his car with a deposit bag after closing the store when two men attacked him, Platania said. One had a stun gun, which he used on the clerk’s chest and back. The prosecutor said the clerk told police the two men then grabbed the money and his keys and ran.

Platania said the clerk recognized one of the men, later identified as Anderson, because he had been in the store previously.

Four days later, city police responded to a similar incident at the Emmet Street Exxon. Platania said the clerk was waiting on a customer when a man came up to him and used a stun gun on him. The man took money and lottery tickets, he said.

Neither victim was taken to the hospital. The case against Anderson’s co-defendant in the Oct. 15 robbery, 19-year-old Nicholas Dar Robinson, is awaiting review by a grand jury.

Anderson’s gun charge materialized after police searched his home. Platania said police found a stun gun and a .380-caliber handgun in his bedroom. Although Anderson doesn’t have an adult record, he is not permitted to own a gun. He was convicted as a juvenile of a charge equivalent to a felony.

A grand jury also indicted Anderson on two charges each of felony possession of a stun weapon and malicious wounding, as well as one count each of grand larceny and breaking and entering. Platania said that his office would not be prosecuting those charges.

According to the prosecutor, Anderson admitted to the Oct. 11 robbery. Defense attorney James Maloney said his client has become more mature through this incident.

“He is really well on his way,” Maloney said. “He has on many occasions accepted responsibility in a number of ways.”

Anderson is scheduled to be sentenced in Charlottesville Circuit Court on Oct. 8. He remains held at the Albemarle-Charlot-tesville Regional Jail.