Station Agent's Assailant Gets 7 Years in Prison
A career criminal who tried to rob a Station Agent - and set her booth on fire - was sentenced to 7 years in state prison. With more than a dozen TWU officers and members in the courtroom, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Bruce Balter also ordered that the arsonist serve the full term behind bars.
The victim, Station Agent Percillia Augustine-Soverall, was traveling and unable to attend. But she previously said she would be satisfied with that level of punishment for the convict, Everette Robinson, who pled guilty last month to attempted robbery last month. Augustine-Soverall also said she found “forgiveness in her heart” for the criminal, according to the prosecutor who handled the case.
“We forgive but we never forget,” Vice President of Stations Derick Echevarria told reporters. Echevarria said he would have preferred a life sentence for Robinson but acknowledged 7 years in state prison is no walk in the park.
Approximately one year ago, Robinson sprayed gasoline into the aperture of Augustine-Soverall’s booth at the Nostrand Ave. station on the No. 3 line in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. “Let me get the money or I’ll light you up,” Robinson said, according to the prosecutor. He then ignited a shirt, which dropped to the ground, causing smoke to fill the station, authorities said. Augustine-Soverall was not physically injured. Robinson pled guilty in July to attempted robbery, a felony. Prior to this case, he was arrested 12 times as an adult, authorities said. He was convicted of six misdemeanors and six felonies.
Balter was the judge who restored Local 100’s dues check-off in November 2008. The check-off had been suspended by another judge 18 months earlier as penalty for the 2005 strike.