DATE: Thursday, October 9, 1997             TAG: 9710090476

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   28 lines

MAN CHARGED IN APRIL SHOOTING PLEADS GUILTY

A 21-year-old man pleaded guilty Wednesday to five charges stemming from a shooting and two attempted robberies.

Antonio L. Brown, of the 300 block of S. Wellons St., was convicted in Circuit Court of the felony charges in connection with a crime spree April 23, in which he and a Suffolk teen-ager wore women's clothes and wigs.

In the first incident, he and the teen went into Joseph P. Hall Drug Store on West Washington Street, intending to rob the store, but left because the store was too crowded. Not long afterward, they drove to Eastover Exxon in the 800 block of East Constance Road, planning to rob the station.

Instead, they shot the manager twice and left without any money.

Brown, who listed an address in Chesapeake when he was arrested in June, was convicted of conspiracy to commit armed robbery, attempted armed robbery, malicious wounding and two counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Co-defendant Rashard L. Leary, 16, was convicted of like charges in August.

Two other conspiracy charges against Brown would not be prosecuted, said Ramona D. Baldwin, an assistant commonwealth's attorney.

Sentencing for Brown was set for Dec. 4. KEYWORDS: GUILTY PLEA SHOOTING ROBBERY

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