AMHERST — The last two defendants in a May home invasion in Madison Heights pleaded guilty in Amherst County Circuit Court on Monday.
Rashad Hillman, 20, of Altavista, and the gunman in the home invasion, pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery, two counts of use of a firearm in commission of a felony and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Marcus Tolliver, 19, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery and two counts of use of a firearm in commission of a felony.
Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Cary Payne told the court Hillman and Tolliver forced their way into a home on the 100 block of Sunset Drive on May 31.
Payne said a 17-year-old girl who lives at the home opened the door expecting her mother, but instead found Hillman pointing a gun at her.
He said the girl was ordered onto the ground while the men told her brother, Payton Taylor, to give them drugs and money. Taylor took them to his bedroom where he gave them $42, Payne said.
“The suspects knocked him down and hit him on the head,” he said, adding that Taylor was able to run outside, but was chased down and knocked to the ground again.
After running to a neighbor’s home to try to call police, Taylor went back to the house to his sister. Payne said the two recognized a boy in the getaway vehicle and decided to follow them.
The prosecutor said Taylor and his sister were able to flag down a sheriff’s deputy who pulled over the getaway vehicle. Payne said the deputy found $42 in the van. A subsequent search turned up a small 9mm pistol on the ground where the van was stopped.
Pamela Austin, 33, of Madison Heights, was convicted earlier this month of being an accessory after the fact as the driver. She received a six-month suspended sentence.
Meredith Kadeem-Lewis Austin was convicted of two counts each of robbery and use of a firearm in commission of a felony. Austin, who was 17 at the time of the robbery and who is now 18, was tried as an adult and convicted in October.
Payne noted that he did not go inside the house during the robbery, but was aware of the plot. Hillman’s lawyer, Scott DeBruin, said in court Monday that Meredith Austin was the mastermind behind the robbery.
Meredith Austin and Tolliver face mandatory minimum sentences of eight years in prison on the gun charges. Hillman faces a mandatory minimum sentence of a decade.
Austin is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 5. Tolliver and Hillman are set to be sentenced on Feb. 10. All are jailed pending sentencing.
In a separate incident, a Lynchburg teen charged with shooting Taylor in a July 2008 drive-by on Pierce Street in Lynchburg was sentenced to 13 years in prison Friday.
Lynchburg prosecutors said Taylor was grazed in that shooting. A 17-year-old E.C. Glass cheerleader was shot in the back. Prosecutors dropped the charge against the shooter, Michael Ward, in Taylor’s wounding in exchange for a guilty plea on other charges.
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