Last of Lakewood H.S. former football players sentenced for robbery spree

Devin Delanie, 20, was the oldest of the group and has to serve his time in state prison

TOMS RIVER --The last of four former Lakewood High School football players who admitted to committing a string of armed robberies was sentenced on Friday to seven years in prison.

Like his three other former team members sentenced before him over the past few weeks, Devin Delanie, 20, didn't have an explanation for why he terrorized innocent bystanders in Toms River and Lakewood, but insisted the spree was a "mistake" in judgment.

It was a mistake, though, that will require Delanie to serve time in prison no matter how much he regrets his criminal actions, said Superior Court Judge James Blaney.

"This is a terrible crime, a first-degree crime. It takes away the ability of people to feel safe in their own environment," Blaney said.

'Promising' Lakewood H.S. athlete sentenced to prison for robberies

The victims were either leaving restaurants or taking groceries from their car on Oct. 2, 2014, when they were accosted by a group of young men who pointed a gun at them and demanded money. Because authorities later learned that gun was a toy, prosecutors dropped a weapon possession charge against Delanie.

Like the others, he pleaded guilty to two counts of armed robbery. But unlike the others, who will start serving their time in a juvenile facility until they turn 21, Delanie, as the only adult in the group at the time of the spree, is headed to state prison. He was the first to plead guilty but the last to be sentenced.

Delanie, who has been in the Ocean County Jail in Toms River since being arrested the night of the robberies, apologized to the victims, who were not in court, and to his family, including several cousins and an aunt who were in the audience crying.

"I have no excuse for what went on. There is no excuse for what went on," he said.

"I'm going to need my family's help, also. I have younger cousins and I want them to learn from my mistakes," he said. "I have brothers my age - blood or not - and I want them all to learn from my mistakes."

His attorney, Terrance Turnbach, said that while Delanie had a hard life growing up, he didn't offer that as an excuse for the crime spree. He said Delanie didn't meet his father, who was in prison, until he was 11 years old. When his mother relocated to Florida, he moved in with an aunt in Lakewood.

When he wasn't playing basketball or football at school, Delanie was working at McDonald's, Turnbach said. Often his teachers or coaches would give him a ride to his job because they knew he had no form of transportation, he said.

But then as a junior in high school, Delanie moved into an apartment complex in a high-drug, high-crime area in town, Turnbach said.

"He's a young man that didn't have the easiest of upbringings," Turnbach said.

He stressed, however, that Delanie had never been arrested before and has since worked with his former teachers and coaches to obtain his diploma from Lakewood High School.

When he is released from prison, Delanie wants to start a program for other youngsters in town in his situation, Turnbach said.

Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Laura Pierro said that as mature and responsible Delanie is now, he has to face the consequences of his actions from 18 months ago.

"He's a very mature individual who engaged in incredibly immature conduct - a very responsible individual ... who engaged in very irresponsible conduct," Pierro said. "And (he is) a man who wishes now to look forward when at the time, if he had just done so, may not be here today."

Under the plea agreement, Delanie could have faced between 10 and 20 years in prison. By having the gun charge against him dropped, he will not be eligible for an extended prison term if he is convicted of a crime in the future. But he will have to serve nearly six years of his term before becoming eligible for parole.

Delanie's three co-defendants were already sentenced: Naquese Joshua, 18, to 10 years; Hassan Diawara, 17, to 12 years; and Christopher Perpignan, 18, to six years.