Ex-Traffic Court judge's teen brother pleads to robberies
A younger brother of imprisoned former Philadelphia Traffic Court Judge Willie Singletary pleaded guilty on Wednesday to three counts of robbery and related offenses.
A younger brother of imprisoned former Philadelphia Traffic Court Judge Willie Singletary pleaded guilty on Wednesday to three counts of robbery and related offenses.
Under a plea deal, Hasheem Singletary, 17, was sentenced to 5 1/2 to 12 years in state prison and three years' probation by Common Pleas Judge Lillian Ransom.
In addition to the robbery charges, Singletary pleaded guilty to three counts each of conspiracy and possession of an instrument of crime, and one count of receiving stolen property. Prosecutors dropped other charges.
Singletary, of Wallace Street near 39th in Mantua, has been in custody since his arrest on May 8.
His guilty pleas stem from three gunpoint robberies in West Philadelphia in February 2015 and from his being in possession of a stolen car, which was found in front of his house, also that February.
Assistant District Attorney Paul Goldman said Singletary was ordered Wednesday to pay about $2,000 in restitution to three victims - two in the gunpoint robberies and for damage to the stolen car.
After police secured a warrant for Singletary's arrest in the robberies last year, they tracked him to Tennessee, then to Jacksonville, Fla. It was in Florida where he was taken into custody, when he was found in a stolen car on April 1, 2015, police have said.
On May 6, workers with PTS Transportation, a prisoner-transport service, took Singletary on a Philly-bound plane from Florida.
As they drove him from Philadelphia International Airport to the Southwest Detective Division at 55th and Pine Streets, in West Philly, the teen, despite being handcuffed in the backseat of a rental car, hopped out and escaped as the car slowed down near 56th Street and Osage Avenue, police have said.
Two days later, Singletary surrendered to Southwest Detectives flanked by his brother Willie - who had then been convicted of lying to the FBI in a Traffic Court ticket-fixing scandal, but not yet sentenced - and his brother's attorney.
Willie Singletary, 35, the former Traffic Court judge and a pastor, is currently serving a 20-month sentence in federal prison in Butner, N.C., a low-security lockup about 30 miles north of Raleigh.
He was convicted by a federal jury in July 2014 of lying to the FBI in the ticket-fixing scandal, but was acquitted of fraud charges. His expected release date is Nov. 19 of this year.
215-854-2592 @julieshawphilly