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BANGOR – A Sangerville man was sentenced Wednesday in Penobscot County Superior Court to 25 years in prison for his part in a home invasion and armed robbery of a LaGrange marijuana dealer.
Walter Cobb, 32, was convicted last month after a three-day trial.
A jury of seven men and five women deliberated for 90 minutes before finding Cobb guilty of armed robbery, armed burglary, reckless conduct, criminal threatening, theft, burglary of a motor vehicle, unauthorized use of property and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Maine Superior Court Justice Jeffrey Hjelm said he added five years to the basic sentence of 20 years because of Cobb’s lengthy and violent criminal history. Cobb has spent much of his adult life incarcerated and claims to have been stabbed 37 times and shot three times, Hjelm said Wednesday.
Greg Campbell, assistant district attorney for Penobscot County, recommended Cobb be sentenced to 30 years in prison. Defense attorney Kirk Bloomer of Brewer argued his client’s sentence should be “in the ballpark” with his co-defendants.
Roderick Cole, 23, was sentenced to 16 years in prison last week with all but five months suspended and six years of probation for robbery, five years for burglary, one year for burglary to a motor vehicle and one year for possession of a firearm by a felon. The sentences are to run consecutively. He also was ordered to share with his co-defendants the $1,000 restitution payment to the victims.
Cole pleaded guilty to the charges and was the first to confess to his involvement in the incident, according to Campbell. He also took responsibility for his actions and testified against Cobb at his jury trial last month.
Albert Severance, 24, the third man who admitted to taking part in the robbery and who also testified against Cobb, negotiated a plea agreement with prosecutors that caps the time he would have to serve at 10 years. His sentencing has been continued due to the recent birth of his daughter.
The trio entered the LaGrange home of Jeremy and Kristen Hart about 8:45 a.m. Sunday, March 9, 2003, according to testimony at Cobb’s trial. All three wore ski masks over their heads.
They left with about $1,000 in cash, two 1-gallon bags filled with marijuana and the family’s SUV.
The plot to rob the Harts was hatched in February 2003 at the Iron Horsemen Motorcycle Clubhouse, according to testimony. Cobb and Severance, who lived downstairs from him in a Sangerville apartment building, recruited Cole, Severance’s roommate, and Cole’s live-in girlfriend, Kathryn “Katie” McCloud. She drove the three to and from the Harts’ home in her father’s pickup truck the day of the robbery.
McCloud, who recently married Severance and gave birth to their first child earlier this month, was not charged for her role in the robbery. All three identified Cobb as the third man who helped execute the scheme that they expected to net nearly $50,000 in cash.
The Harts did not attend sentencings for Cole or Cobb, but told prosecutors before the trial that they and their young daughters had been so traumatized by the event that they had been forced to move.
In addition to the 25-year sentence for Class A burglary and Class A robbery, Cobb also was sentenced to five years each for possession of a firearm by a felon, reckless conduct and criminal threatening. He also was sentenced to one year each for theft, burglary of a motor vehicle and unauthorized use of property. All sentences are to run concurrently.
Bloomer said after Wednesday’s sentences that he would appeal the conviction and the sentencing to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
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