Springfield man sentenced to 13 years in prison over phone robbery

Lance Wilcoxen

Lance Wilcoxen

A man was convicted by a jury and sentenced to 13 years in prison for robbing a teenager of her cellphone at the Clark County Library in Springfield.

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Lance Wilcoxen, 22, was convicted by a jury of aggravated robbery, according to court documents. He and another man that was not identified in records were accused of stopping a child in December at the library, displaying a gun and stealing the youth’s Galaxy S6 cellphone.

“(The victim) stated that she was at the Clark County Library, near the south side of the parking lot,” a police affidavit states. “She stated that she was near the construction fence line when two white males in their late teens, early 20s approached her. She stated that suspect one, (later identified as the defendant Lance Wilcoxen) had a green hoody, baggy pants, brown dreadlocks and had two tear drop tattoo’s on his face stated ‘give me your phone.’”

The affidavit states that a second man showed the victim a gun that he kept at his side. The youth allegedly handed the phone over and the two men took off towards the bike path in the area.

Wilcoxen was eventually identified after the victim’s mother found a Facebook post that was trying to sell the same phone that was stolen. Authorities said they investigated, created a photo line-up for the girl and she was able to identify Wilcoxen as one of the robbers.

Wilcoxen was indicted in March and a one day jury trial saw him convicted of the crime with a gun stipulation included. Clark County Assistant Prosecutor Brian Driscoll said he felt justice was served in the case.

“If an individual uses a gun to rob a teenager leaving the library that is a pretty serious matter,” Driscoll said. “Anytime we take a case to the jury and get a conviction we are happy.”

Driscoll said the office worked to identify the second man in the incident, but Wilcoxen refused to give him up and there are no other leads at this time.

Clark County Common Pleas Court Judge Douglas Rastatter sentenced Wilcoxen on June 1 to 10 years for the robbery and an additional three years for using a gun during it.

Defense attorney Shawn Murphy was not immediately available for comment Monday.

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