By Jeff Lehr
jlehr@joplinglobe.com
A man who robbed a May’s Drug Warehouse in Joplin last year was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison.
Rodney E. Delong, 49, of Joplin, managed to get away with just $340 in cash from a clerk who he threatened to shoot March 3, 2009, in May’s Drug at 1410 E. Seventh St. He was tracked down by a police dog after fleeing the store.
Delong pleaded guilty Dec. 7 to first-degree robbery in a plea agreement with the Jasper County prosecutor’s office that limited the prison sentence he might be assessed to no more than 15 years. At a sentencing hearing Monday in Jasper County Circuit Court in Joplin, Judge David Dally assessed the defendant the maximum term allowed under the plea bargain.
The defendant approached a clerk inside the store the night of the robbery and asked for a bottle of vodka that was kept behind a counter.
As the clerk retrieved the bottle and went to ring it up, Delong threatened to shoot her if she did not give him all the money in the cash register.
Delong displayed no weapon but kept a hand in the pocket of his jeans jacket as if he had a gun, according to a probable-cause affidavit. Police later determined that he had no weapon. But pretense of a weapon draws the same charge as armed robbery in Missouri.
Delong did not get far fleeing the store on foot. Police arrived quickly and set up a perimeter in the neighborhood. An eyewitness saw the robber discarding his jacket in a trash bin behind the Missouri Department of Revenue building in Eastmoreland Plaza, and the jacket was used to help a trailing dog pick up his scent.
The dog soon located Delong hiding nearby, with the cash from the robbery still in his hand, according to police. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment for a dog bite to his leg suffered during the arrest.
