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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- A Tyrone man has been sentenced to spend four to 10 years in a state prison after entering guilty pleas Monday to robbery and related charges in connection with a 2016 holdup of a Tyrone grocery store.
Steven K. Beasom, 47, submitted the pleas in Blair County Court in exchange for the recommended sentence imposed by President Judge Elizabeth Doyle.
In addition to charges in the robbery, Beasom also rendered guilty pleas to methamphetamine delivery, criminal use of a communication device and simple assault. Beasom's jail time on those charges is to be served at the same time as his four- to 10-year sentence. He also is to be credited for time served.
Beasom has been in jail since May 31, when he was arrested in Tyrone on a charge of simple assault. While being transported by police to UPMC Altoona for treatment of a head wound, Beasom allegedly made comments about the Save-A-Lot robbery and used the name of the store's shift manager when telling police that he had pointed a gun toward the manager and not at the manager's head.
Officers also indicated that Beasom asked them: "Does it make a difference if it wasn't a real gun?"
In addition to those statements, Tyrone police collected information from others aware of Beasom's interest in robbing the store and used that to support the criminal charges filed in August.
Court documents indicate that Beasom, dressed in black with his head covered and a bandanna across his face, entered the store at 111 W. 13th St. on Nov. 13, 2016, when employees were preparing to close. Police said he brandished a handgun to direct the shift manager into the store's small office where the safe was open because the manager had been preparing a deposit. The store reported that Beasom fled with $730.
As part of the negotiated guilty plea, Beasom is to make restitution to Save-A-Lot, and he is to have no further contact with the store or the victims.
Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 946-7456.