WEST SAN FERNANDO VALLEY : Man Sentenced to 37 Years in Store Thefts

A Van Nuys Superior Court judge Monday sentenced a Lancaster man to 37 years in prison for a series of liquor store robberies in the west San Fernando Valley, then reduced a sentence that had been given Friday to the robber’s accomplice.

Judge Leon Kaplan reduced a 30-year sentence for Patrick Shelton, 25, of Los Angeles to 28 years. Kaplan said he had incorrectly ruled that a two-year term on one of the 24 counts should be served consecutively when it should have been imposed concurrently with the other terms. Kaplan said he also took into consideration that Shelton expressed remorse.

Willie B. Neal, 21, who was convicted on the same 24 counts as Shelton, involving robbery and assault with a firearm, received a longer sentence because he was also convicted of receiving stolen property, and he did not express remorse, the judge said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Carole Chizever said she was disappointed that the men did not receive the maximum sentences of 38 years and eight months for Shelton, and 40 years and four months for Neal.

Shelton and Neal robbed six liquor stores and one convenience store at gunpoint in January, 1991. The men hit some of the 25 robbery victims with a gun, Chizever said.