Young men beat employees in Pierce County mini mart robberies. Now 3 have been sentenced
Three young men have been sentenced for their involvement in armed robberies of three Pierce County convenience stores where gunshots were fired and employees were beaten with fists and a revolver.
The three defendants received sentences ranging from two to nine years in the state’s custody.
Anthony Jorden Cirelli, 26, Joshua Jerome Mack, 21 and a boy who was 15 when the robberies occurred were arrested by Pacific Police Department officers on Nov. 28, 2021, after a convenience store in Sumner, a gas station in Edgewood and a mini mart near Lake Tapps were robbed that morning.
Cirelli admitted to being the getaway driver when he pleaded guilty Oct. 3 to two counts of first-degree robbery. Prosecutors said there were evidence issues in one of the incidents that made it doubtful a third robbery charge could be proven at trial. Pierce County Superior Court Judge Pro Tem Elizabeth Martin sentenced him to five years in prison.
Mack pleaded guilty Jan. 26, 2023, to three counts of first-degree robbery, second-degree assault and unlawfully possessing a firearm. He is serving a nine-year prison sentence.
The 15-year-old boy pleaded guilty Oct. 24, 2022, in Pierce County Juvenile Court to one count of first-degree robbery. He was committed to the custody of the Department of Children, Youth and Families for a term of 103-129 weeks, about two years. The News Tribune generally does not identify juveniles charged with crimes.
In the first robbery in Sumner, an employee told police that two men walked into the store wearing face masks and hoods, according to charging documents. The worker was punched in the face by one robber and was struck over the head with a revolver by another. Mack admitted in his guilty plea that he participated in the assault.
The robbers took money from the cash register and some vaping products. When they left, the employee retrieved his own firearm, followed them out and fired a shot in the air. He heard three gunshots in response, and officers later found bullet holes in nearby residences.
At the gas station robbery, surveillance video showed a store clerk being punched repeatedly by one robber and being forced to open the cash register at gunpoint.
In a victim-impact statement submitted to the court, the clerk said she couldn’t put the fear she experienced that day into words, and it made her seriously think about quitting her job.
A person who managed the employees there also submitted a statement, telling the court everyone at the business wanted to see that the young men involved receive “proper sentencing” for their crimes.
“Since the robbery my employees are exhausted with the constant worry of having to always be on guard and always be looking over their shoulders hoping that they are not the next victim,” the manager wrote.
In the third robbery near Lake Tapps, a store employee told Sheriff’s Department deputies two men robbed the store at gunpoint and assaulted him.
Surveillance video showed Mack pointing a revolver in a cashier’s face and the 15-year-old punching the employee, sending him to the ground. The two emptied the cash register and grabbed tobacco products and a case of beer before fleeing in a gold Honda Accord.
