The Selma Times-Journal

Circuit Judge Tommy Jones sentenced Juston Johnson to 15 years in prison on Tuesday for robbing a Movie Gallery district manager in the parking lot of Wachovia Bank, formerly Southtrust Bank, in March 2004.

Johnson pled guilty to second-degree robbery, said Assistant District Attorney Jim Ransom. According to police reports, Movie Gallery district manager Daphne Mortenson was attempting to make a business deposit at the Citizens Parkway branch when the robbery occurred. When Mortenson exited her vehicle, she was knocked to the ground by a black male carrying a gun who said, “Give me the money.”

“The man then snatched her light colored Southtrust Bank bag, which contained approximately $300 in cash, coins and checks,” the report states.

Ransom said Tuesday he was satisfied with the judge’s ruling.

“I want to let the people of Dallas County know that this office is going to continue to be tough on violent crime and gun crime,” he said.

Johnson was allegedly aided by a Selma teenager, who was 15-years-old at the time of the robbery.

As Johnson and the teenager sped away in a 1988 white Chrysler New Yorker, Mortenson was able to obtain the vehicle’s tag number.

Local law officials later found the emptied deposit bag on Woodrow Avenue and submitted it as evidence.

Officers eventually traced the white New Yorker to the teenager, whose grandmother confirmed he owned the car.

SPD officers were later notified to tow the white vehicle to a wrecker lot to be processed for evidence.

The juvenile has since failed to make a court appearance, Ransom said.