Gang member expected to plead guilty today

A self-confessed gang member is expected to plead guilty today to participation in three armed robberies in and around Staunton late last year.
Nathaniel Rivers, of Verona, is scheduled to appear in Staunton Circuit Court at 1:30 p.m. on two felony charges of using a firearm to commit robbery, two felony charges of robbing a business with a gun and two felony charges of gang participation in a criminal act. An hour later, he will appear in Augusta County Circuit Court on two charges of robbing a business with a gun and two charges of using a firearm in a felony.
The crime spree began November 13, when Rivers and Gregory Jackson, of Staunton, allegedly robbed a pedestrian in Harrisonburg, said Phillip Figura, special counsel for the Shenandoah Valley Multi-Jurisdictional Grand Jury, which handed down indictments on all the charges earlier this year. Both were armed with what appeared to be guns, although one was a “simulated firearm,” Figura said.
A few hours later, Rivers and Jackson allegedly used the same two weapons to rob the 7-Eleven convenience store on North Coalter Avenue in Staunton, taking cash and a police scanner, Figura said.
The other crimes occurred on Christmas Eve, beginning with an armed robbery of the Econo Lodge on Richmond Avenue in Staunton - Rivers allegedly waited in a car while a juvenile, armed with a gun, robbed the hotel clerk, Figura said.
Later that day, Rivers waited in a car while his girlfriend, Windy Hamlett, also armed with a gun, allegedly robbed two area hotels: a Day’s Inn and a Hampton Inn, both outside the Staunton city limits, Figura said. Anthony Tolliver, of Staunton, was also allegedly in the car during the Hampton Inn robbery, Figura said.
Jackson, Hamlett and Tolliver have all plead not guilty to related charges and face jury trials this summer, according to court records. 
Rivers, an admitted member of the East Side Skyline Piru Bloods gang, has confessed to involvement in all the robberies, Figura said.