The suspected getaway driver who allegedly took part in the armed robbery of a convenience store gave lawmen detailed accounts of what happened during the heist, leading to the arrest of other accomplices, a detective testified Tuesday.
Brandon McGowan, William Magee and Kashera Smith were all arrested on Aug. 23 in connection with the Aug. 8 robbery of the Holmesville Grocery — one of a string of robberies along Highway 98 that have vexed lawmen and store clerks over the summer.
Their cases were bound over to the Pike County grand jury. Smith waived her preliminary hearing. LaShawn Richards, another alleged participant in the robbery, will have his hearing sometime next week.
They are all charged with armed robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery. McGowan also faces a charge of possession of a stolen firearm.
In a preliminary hearing in Pike County Justice Court on Tuesday, Judge Bryan Harbour reduced bond for Smith, the suspected getaway driver, to $25,000 and kept bond for McGowan and Magee bond at $175,000.
“Armed robbery is one of the most serious crimes that we see in Pike County,” Harbour said. “If you put a gun in someone’s face and demand money from them, you’re violating all the norms of society and you are a danger to society. Bond remains at $175,000.”
Pike County sheriff’s investigator KeyAnna Martin testified that Smith voluntarily came to sheriff’s department and told investigators what happened on the night of the robbery. Martin said two black males entered the store at 10:41 p.m.
“Magee was my bag man and McGowan was my gunman,” she said.
Martin said McGowan gave all the commands and told the store owner and his son what to do.
“If you see the video and you look at them now, you know it’s them,” she said.
Defense attorneys asked how investigators determined McGowan and Magee were involved.
“Ms. Kashera Smith came in and told us,” she said, adding that Smith voluntarily came to the sheriff’s department and told detectives about the robbery.
Martin said Smith told detectives she drove McGowan, Magee and Richards in her Nissan Maxima to the intersection of Highway 98 East and Magnolia-Holmesville Road.
“She said she dropped them off on the side of the hill and she left,” Martin testified.
She said Smith said she saw McGowan and Magee with a gun, mask and gloves.
After robbing the store, “They then fled to the east of the store toward the wood line,” Martin said.
She said another accomplice, LaShawn Richards, whose alleged role in the robbery wasn’t discussed during Tuesday’s hearing, stopped at a home along the highway and asked for the owner to take him home.
“They didn’t see McGowan until later the next day,” Martin said.
She said Smith’s accurate account of the robbery helped lead to the charges against her accomplices.
“They told her what happened word for word. Everything she told us matched what we saw in the video,” Martin said.
She said Magee confessed to his role in the robbery when he came in for his interview, but McGowan refused to talk.
“Was the store owner ever interviewed?” McGowan’s lawyer, Jason Tate, asked.
“He said he was afraid and they did what they were told,” Martin said. “He (Magee) was only paid, I think like, $140 for the job.”
She said Detectives Christopher Bell and Robbie Roberts conducted the interview with Magee.
Tate asked Martin how detectives knew where to find McGowan and Magee, and she said Smith told them.
The description of the gun used in the robbery also came into question. Martin testified that the gun used in the robbery was a Derringer. However, the gun listed in a criminal affidavit is described as a Glock 9.
Martin said the gun turned up stolen from Magnolia. It had not been fired, she said.
Magee’s attorney Jose Simo asked Martin how Smith knew McGowan and Magee.
“She went with McGowan’s brother. They were in a dating relationship,” she said, referring to LaShawn Richards.
Tate argued that Smith’s story didn’t make sense.
“You mean to tell me that she dropped them off, never saw them with a mask, never saw them with a gun,” he said.
“No, she said she saw them with a gun and she described it and it matched the description,” Martin said.
Cassandra Magee, the mother of William Magee, said she didn’t know what her son had done or was accused of doing until the police showed up at her home on Aug. 23.
“They told me they had two other men down here and they brought up — they kept putting my son’s name in the middle of that mess,” she said.
Magee said she asked her son what he was accused of doing and he replied “robbing a store.”
She said on the night of the robbery her son was sitting on her front porch when she went to sleep.
“All I know is, when I went to sleep my son was sitting on my front porch. I can’t tell you if my son robbed a store or not,” Magee told prosecutor David Brewer.
Attorneys for both McGowan and Magee argued that bond should be reduced and questioned the credibility of Smith.
However, Harbour kept the bond the same for the two alleged robbers.
McGowan, Magee and Smith all remained in the Pike County jail this morning.
