Chelsea man pleads guilty to role in attempted robbery of Broken Arrow electronics store
BY DAVID HARPER World Staff Writer
Thursday, December 06, 2012
A Chelsea man pleaded guilty Thursday to his part in a conspiracy to rob a Broken Arrow electronics store last August.
Joseph Benjamin Wilson, 21, also pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and firearm charges contained in a Nov. 7 indictment filed in Tulsa federal court.
The indictment is connected to events that occurred Aug. 22 at the Radio Shack at 6331 S. Elm Place in which employees were taken into a back room at gunpoint and bound with duct tape.
An off-work employee who went to the store that night saw the robbers clearing the shelves and called the police.
Wilson was arrested that night along with Wesley Ryan Wilson, 24; James Paul Wright, 22; and 18-year-old James Corrigan Kenneth Theodore Allen Tate-Sullivan (also known as Cory James Sullivan).
On Thursday, Joseph Wilson admitted in his plea agreement that he drove the other three men to the Radio Shack in Wright’s vehicle and then parked in a place where he could “surveill” the front of the store.
He said that he kept in contact with Wesley Wilson, who is his brother, by using a walkie-talkie during the attempted robbery.
Joseph Wilson stated in his plea agreement he knew an employee’s vehicle would be carjacked as part of the conspiracy. He also claimed the other three men were armed.
An Oct. 23 court filing alleges that the four planned for about a week to rob the store. They met at Wright’s home and “changed clothes into tactical gear to go on the mission,” the document says.
An FBI affidavit says the men had special “code names” for the mission to avoid detection. Wright was motivated by “extreme debt and needed money,” the affidavit states.
U.S. Chief District Judge Gregory Frizzell is scheduled to sentence Joseph Wilson on March 12.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Woodward said Joseph Wilson faces at least seven years in prison with guidelines likely to suggest a sentence of about 10 years behind bars.
Federal charges against the other three men are pending.
The attempted robbery charge is in U.S. District Court under the Hobbs Act, which allows federal jurisdiction when businesses that engage in interstate commerce are victimized.
Associated Images:
Joseph Benjamin Wilson
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