A 21-year-old woman was sentenced Wednesday to 2 1/2 years in prison for armed robberies at two Vancouver businesses in March.
In an agreement with prosecutors, Celena M. Afemata of Vancouver pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of second-degree robbery.
She expressed remorse Wednesday for the robberies, which, she admitted, were motivated by her heroin addiction. She has no criminal history, said her court-appointed attorney, Todd Pascoe.
“There is not a day that goes by that I don’t regret the mistake I made,” Afemata said.
“I’m not a bad person. I’ve just been going through a lot in my life.” That included the death of her grandmother, she said.
The first holdup occurred March 4 at a Subway store at 3415 S.E. 192nd Ave. The robber, wearing black clothing and a ski mask but no shoes, entered the store at 9:38 p.m., told the clerk she had a gun and was going to rob the store.
The victim, Kayla Carras, 24, said she could feel something poking into her back and heard what sounded like a “trigger click,” Vancouver police Detective Barbara Knoeppel wrote in a court affidavit.
“The night it happened, it was terrifying, but at the bottom of my heart, I hope she gets the help she needs,” Carras said at Wednesday’s hearing.
Then, on March 7, Afemata, wearing black clothing and a mask, entered Mary Jane’s House of Glass, a smoke shop at 8312 E. Mill Plain Blvd., about 10:38 p.m. She pointed what appeared to be a handgun at a male manager and male sales associate.
“Give me all the money,” she said, according to court records.
She handed them a drawstring bag, which the men filled with about $200 in cash, court records say.
In exchange for Afemata’s guilty plea, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Vu dropped two counts of first-degree robbery. Vu also recommended the sentence of 2 1/2 years, which is greater than the standard range for second-degree robbery but less than what she would have faced had she been convicted of first-degree robbery.
Judge John Nichols on Wednesday agreed to the plea bargain.
