Addict robber cries for mercy; judge unmoved

A Waynesboro man cried for mercy in circuit court Wednesday after pleading guilty to robbing a gas station.

“I know what I pled guilty to doing wrong,” Kenneth Marsella Reynolds told Judge Humes J. Franklin Jr. “I’m an addict – I’m not here to make anyone mad, I just pray to God. Have a little mercy on me today. Your honor, I will never be in your courtroom again.”

Reynolds asked the judge for a five-year sentence instead of the seven years agreed upon by attorneys.

Unmoved, Franklin sentenced Reynolds to the full seven.

Authorities arrested Reynolds, 42, after he threatened to pull a gun from under his shirt in exchange for money at the 301 E. Broad St. Shell station, police said. Reynolds later told authorities he used the money to feed his crack coccaine addiction.

Reynolds first ran into trouble in June when he attempted to elude Waynesboro police in the 200 block of N. Commerce Avenue.

Officers said they found him with a smoking device covered in cocaine residue.

Reynolds robbed the gas station while out on bond almost a month later.

City gas stations have been the subject of burglaries or robberies at least four other times in 2009.

The North Poplar Avenue Sunoco station experienced two burglaries this year, including once in April, when more than $200 in cash, beer and cigarettes was stolen.

Another Waynesboro Sunoco, at 1175 E. Main St. was a January target, as 35 lottery tickets and 30 packs of cigarettes were stolen. An Afton man and woman were charged in that break-in after they allegedly tried to cash in the lottery tickets in Charlottesville.

In addition to the seven-year jail sentence, Franklin sentenced Reynolds to eight years of probation.