Man sentenced to 11 years in robberies

A Vancouver man was sentenced Tuesday to more than 11 years in prison for being the gunman in three armed robberies in Vancouver in January.

Joseph M. “Ghost” White, 21, pleaded guilty in Clark County Superior Court on Tuesday to three counts of first-degree robbery, a count of third-degree assault and a count of residential burglary.

One of the armed robberies was Jan. 11 at a Star Mart convenience store in the Ogden neighborhood. The other two were Jan. 25, when White robbed a pedestrian in the Rose Village neighborhood and a 7-Eleven store in the Bagley Downs neighborhood.

In the Star Mart robbery, White and two other men entered the convenience store at 2517 N.E. Andresen Road about 3:50 a.m. Armed with a .22 caliber pistol, White jumped onto the counter, pointed the gun at the cashier and demanded money, according to a court affidavit. Before leaving the store, he fired a round into the market’s front window, destroying the window, the affidavit says.

Two weeks later, four men accosted a man walking near East 30th and V streets about 3:41 a.m. The robbers emerged from a light-green sedan and demanded the man’s wallet and money, Vancouver police said. One of the robbers stood behind the man and fired a handgun into the air, police said.

There may have been a fifth person driving the car, they said.

Later that morning, White was involved in an armed robbery involving a chrome pistol at 4:57 a.m. at 7-Eleven, 5600 N.E. Fourth Plain Boulevard. He was one of four “unidentified males” in the convenience store, according to police. As one of the robbers removed money from the cash register, he fired one round into the floor behind the counter, police said.