Beacon Journal staff report
A 34-year-old Akron man is going to prison for robbing a 73-year-old, wheelchair-bound man.
Thomas J. Moore pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony. Summit County Common Pleas Court Judge Todd McKenney immediately sentenced Moore to eight years in prison.
Prosecutors say Moore knew the victim and that he kept his money in a lockbox. Moore met with Valontai Buchanan, 18, of Akron, and they decided to rob the wheelchair-bound man in his apartment.
Buchanan threatened the victim with a knife, knocked him out of his wheelchair and demanded money. Both Moore and Buchanan fled and split the money, according to a news release from the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office.
“This office will continue to seek tough sentences on those who prey upon our elderly,” Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Margaret Scott said in the release.
Buchanan pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery March 29. He will be sentenced May 3 by McKenney.