A pair of jeans with a hole, a pair of shoes, and a jacket that were all consistent with images of a robber in a surveillance video were key to getting felony convictions in a jury trial for Michael J. Piasta, according to District Attorney Lawrence Friedman.
"This is a case where we definitely needed that surveillance video to provide the corroboration that we needed," Friedman said.
Piasta took $10,000 from the Arby's, 212 W. Main St., Batavia, on March 25, 2018.
The jury took two hours to decide Piasta was guilty of robbery, 2nd, grand larceny, 3rd, and criminal possession of a weapon.
Friedman said Piasta carried an imitation handgun and wore a mask when he robbed Arby's.
On April 13, 2018, Piasta, who had already been identified as a suspect, was located in a pickup truck with three other individuals stopped by a Batavia police officer on West Main Street. Friedman said the pants he wore that day had a hole in one leg consistent with a hole in the leg shown in the surveillance video.
He also wore shoes Friedman said he thought were unique and consistent with the shows shown in the Arby's video.
The jacket Piasta wore during the robbery was located at his mother's house following his arrest. His mother said the jacket was hers but she had loaned it to her son a few days before the robbery and it was returned shortly after the robbery, according to Friedman.
"We had a witness who testified that defendant came to his residence right after the crime wearing clothes consistent with the clothes worn during the robbery and that he had several thousand dollars with him and he stated that he had, quote 'done dirt', which apparently means he committed a robbery," Friedman said.
Piasta has three prior stints in state prison and is eligible for sentencing for persistent felony offender status, which means a minimum of five years in prison. The maximum term for a Class C felony is 15 years.
When Piasta was sentenced in 2010 on a burglary charge, he told Judge Robert C. Noonan, "At this point, I just want to say I don’t feel that I’m hopeless," Piasta told Noonan before receiving a maximum state prison term of seven years for burglary. "Regardless of what happens today, I think I can make things better."
Photo from April 13, 2018, of the scene on West Main Street, Batavia, when Michael Piasta was taken into custody as a suspect in the Arby's robbery.
