Two brothers who robbed the North Side Thorne’s Market in Oil City more than four years ago received state prison sentences this week.
One of the brothers was also sentenced for robbing the Siverly General Store a few months earlier.
Judge Robert L. Boyer sentenced Justin Scott Dignard, 35, of Pittsburgh, to serve 42 months to 20 years at Camp Hill state prison for the robbery at Thorne’s on Grandview Road on June 1, 2012.
Adrian Kyle Joseph Dignard, 33, of Fredonia, was sentenced to serve three to 10 years at Camp Hill in the Thorne’s case.
Justin Dignard pleaded guilty in June to a felony charge of robbery-threat of serious bodily injury. Adrian Dignard pleaded guilty in June to a felony charge of criminal conspiracy/robbery.
Adrian Dignard confessed in an interview with police in January of this year that he and his brother robbed Thorne’s just after 7 a.m. on June 1, 2012.
Witnesses said the men entered the store wearing cowboy hats, flannel shirts, boots and wigs with fake facial hair.
Adrian Dignard was the lookout while Justin Dignard leapt over the counter, forced the cashier down to the floor at gunpoint and took more than $6,000 from the safe.
The brothers fled the store through the woods and jumped into their getaway vehicle that was parked along Gough Road in Cornplanter Township.
As part of their sentences, the brothers are responsible for paying $6,130 in restitution to Thorne’s within the next 10 years.
Meanwhile, Justin Dignard was given a sentence of 21 months to 10 years at Camp Hill for robbing the Siverly General Store on Dec. 30, 2011. That sentence will run concurrently with Justin Dignard’s sentence in the Thorne’s case.
Police said Justin Dignard entered the store at about 9:30 a.m. that day wearing a mask and brandishing a firearm before he held two employees at gunpoint and fled with an unspecified amount of money.
Justin Dignard pleaded guilty to a felony robbery count in that case and will be responsible for paying $900 in restitution as part of the sentence.
Adrian Dignard was sentenced to one to 10 years at Camp Hill, concurrent with his sentence in the Thorne’s case, for a December 2015 criminal trespass incident in Oil City.
A December 2014 harassment case involving Adrian Dignard was also closed Tuesday and he was fined $150.
