Office of the District Attorney

P. David Soares
6 Lodge Street
Albany, New York 12207
(518) 487-5460
(518) 487-5093 FAX

ALBANY, NY – ALBANY, NY - Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares today announced that AMY PELTON, 20, of 69 Slingerland Street, Albany, NY pled guilty to Robbery in the 2nd Degree before the Honorable Thomas A. Breslin. PELTON faces a sentence of 4 years in state prison and five years of post release supervision.

In pleading guilty, PELTON admitted that in the early morning hours of November 12, 2006, she and two codefendants robbed a 24-year-old woman who had attended a surprise party for college friend at Bombers on Lark Street. As the victim and her friend parted, the victim walked down Hudson toward her car. The defendants parked on the opposite side of the intersection of Hudson and Lark and crossed the intersection on foot in the direction of the victim. At that point, they attacked the victim from behind and punched her multiple times in the head while struggling to steal her purse. One of the co-defendants stabbed the victim in the head with a screwdriver causing a wound requiring a staple to close.

The victim gave up her purse after resisting but pursued the defendants and got their license plate number. Subsequent police action located the defendants at Amy PeltonÕs residence. The defendants had used the victimÕs credit card at Price Chopper and the victimÕs wallet was recovered in the residence. The purse was surreptitiously hidden and then tossed.

District Attorney Soares was pleased with the resolution of the case. "This was a senseless and predatory attack of an innocent visitor to the City and I am pleased that the perpetrator here will be spending four years in state prison." He also thanked his prosecutor Bruce Lennard for his handling of the case and the victim for recording the license plate. "It takes a tremendous presence of mind to recover from the shock of such a brutal attack and I applaud this victim for coming forward to assist in the arrest and prosecution of this criminal," he added.

The cases against the co-defendants are pending.

Sentencing for PELTON is scheduled in March.