PHOENIX – An armed robber who hit three Mesa businesses that sold cell phones was sentenced to serve a term of 38 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections today. Patrick Dwayne Porter (D.O.B. 8/4/1983) was also sentenced for a separate case involving the armed robbery of a bakery in Tempe. He has a prior felony conviction for a burglary he committed in Georgia and a misdemeanor drug possession charge in Maricopa County.
On November 8, 2013 Porter and an accomplice entered Bull Frog Wireless at 1242 E. McKellips Road in Mesa and confronted a male employee who was alone in the store. They forced him at gunpoint into a rear storage room and bound and tied his hands with plastic zip ties. Then the two robbers ransacked the store of cell phones. Twelve days later, Porter an accomplice hit a T-Mobile Wireless store at 1920 S. Stapley Drive in Mesa, this time confronting two female employees. Porter grabbed one the employees and put a gun to the back of her head as he forced her and her co-worker into a rear room. He and the accomplice then ransacked the store of its cell phone inventory.
On January 11, 2014, Porter and an accomplice struck again, this time at a T-Mobile Wireless store at 1863 N. Stapley Drive. They confronted a male employee and female employee as well as an adult female customer and her 9-year-old niece. Porter grabbed the female employee and put a gun to her head as he dragged her into the rear storage room. The robbers also forced the male employee and the customer and her niece into the room. As in the other incidents, Porter and his accomplice made off with the cell phone inventory. All three robberies were captured by video surveillance cameras.
Mesa Police analyzed a DNA profile from the zip ties used in the first robbery and found a match with Porter through a Georgia DNA database. Investigators confirmed the match by obtaining a court-ordered DNA sample directly from Porter. They also obtained a search warrant for Porter’s residence where they found clothing that matched what he was seen to be wearing during the robberies. Victims also identified Porter in line-ups.
On January 28, 2014, a Maricopa County Grand Jury indicted Patrick Porter on 7 counts of armed robbery, 7 counts of kidnapping and 7 counts of aggravated assault. Three of the counts were alleged as Dangerous Crimes Against Children. After a 6-day trial and three hours of deliberations, a jury found Porter guilty on all counts.
The accomplice in the second robbery, Matthew Richard Elliott (D.O.B. 1/12/1983), agreed to plead guilty to one count of armed robbery and one count of kidnapping and to testify against Porter at trial. He had no prior criminal record and was sentenced to two concurrent 5-year terms of probation.
At his sentencing hearing, Porter agreed to plead guilty to one count of armed robbery and one count of kidnapping for a separate case involving an armed robbery he committed at the Golden Lavash Bakery at 2126 E. Apache Blvd. in Tempe on July 25, 2013.
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