Apollo robber changes plea to guilty
Published 10:17 am Friday, February 5, 2016
One of the men accused of robbing Apollo Liquors & Superette the day before Thanksgiving changed his plea to guilty.
Levell Devell Booth, 22, pleaded guilty Thursday to one charge of felony theft after he and three other men fled Apollo with $204 worth of liquor on Nov. 25. He was originally charged with an additional charge of aggravated robbery.
Two other men, David Ansell Dorenzo, 21, and Leonard Lamar Booth, 24, both previously pleaded not guilty to one count of aggravated robbery and one count of simple robbery, both felonies.
Officers responded to a report of a robbery at Apollo Liquor, 903 W. Oakland Ave., around 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 25.
Two store clerks told an officer four males fled the store without paying for four bottles of cognac valued at about $204, according to a police report.
The report stated the clerk at the register thought the men might steal something, and the second clerk in the back said he saw on the cameras three of the men stuffing bottles of liquor in their sweatshirts, and he went and stood in front of the door. Then one of the men pushed him out of the way and he fell back against a counter, hurting his back.
The suspects then fled east on First Avenue Southwest in a Buick LeSabre.
An officer located the suspects’ vehicle and two men fled the car. A second officer saw two of the suspects running north on Fourth Street Southwest between houses along the street.
The officer apprehended Dorenzo, and other officers apprehended Booth, who was in the back seat of the car.
Officers found three different types of alcoholic drinks in the Buick and a nearby yard. Banfield Elementary School was on a soft lockdown for a time during the incident.
Officers with the Austin and Rochester police departments later identified Levell Booth and Jashon Jason Cornell, 19, as the other two suspects from security photos. Cornell was identified as the suspect who assaulted the store clerk; however, he has not yet been arrested.
Levell is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 11.