Driver pleads guilty in PlayStation robbery case

One of the men who participated in the Nov. 17 robbery of two Sony PlayStation 3 game units from a college student and helped set in motion a sequence of events that resulted in the death of suspect Peyton Strickland entered a guilty plea Thursday to a felony charge.

Braden Riley, 22, entered the plea to accessory after the fact to common law robbery. Prosecutors said Riley was behind the wheel of the car used in the robbery of University of North Carolina Wilmington student Justin Raines, who was unloading the game systems from the trunk of his car in a parking lot on the college campus.

Riley, who now lives in Apex in Wake County, won't be going to jail. Court officials said Chief District Court Judge John J. Carroll III gave Riley a suspended sentence of four to five months and 24 months of supervised probation. Riley was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine, pay restitution to Raines and perform 24 hours of community service.

"He was the driver of the getaway vehicle," prosecutor Dru Lewis said.

Raines and his brother had waited hours to purchase the prized PlayStation consoles at the Sigmon Road Wal-Mart. Riley, Strickland and Ryan D. Mills were waiting for him when he came out of the store, video surveillance cameras showed. Raines was followed to the UNCW campus and robbed. Mills, 21, entered a guilty plea last month to felony common law robbery and received a suspended jail sentence of 10 to 12 months, with 36 months of supervised probation. Riley and Mills must contribute restitution payments totaling $1,282 to Raines.

Authorities think Mills was the person who struck Raines multiple times with a blunt object during the robbery. Raines was not seriously injured.

"No weapons were ever seen at the scene. Nobody ever saw a gun or exactly what kind of object was used," Lewis said.

The rented car used in the robbery was later found by police at the Apex home of Riley's parents. Riley initially was charged with armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and breaking or entering a motor vehicle.

Strickland shooting investigation ongoing

The State Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the shooting death of Strickland the night of Dec. 1 continues. The Mills and Riley cases were handled separately from the Strickland investigation, which was turned over to the SBI by District Attorney Ben David in February.

Charges against Strickland were dropped after his death.

UNCW police received an anonymous tip that led them to consider Strickland, Mills and Riley as suspects after the November robbery. College police requested assistance from the sheriff's office Emergency Response Team in serving search and arrest warrants at Strickland's Long Leaf Acres Drive home.

Former corporal and ERT member Christopher Long was covering another deputy and later told investigators he mistook the crashing noise of an ERT battering ram for gunfire from inside the home. Long fired through the front door, hitting Strickland twice. Strickland, a Durham native and Cape Fear Community College student, suffered a fatal head wound.

Several days later, Long was fired by Sheriff Sid Causey. In December, David presented second-degree murder charges against Long to a grand jury. A clerical error by a grand jury foreman resulted in an announcement that Long had been indicted, when the grand jury had actually not found any grounds for a second-degree murder charge. The mistake was corrected the next day.

Ken Little: 343-2389

ken.little@starnewsonline.com