MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — A woman accused of attempting to rob another woman outside the Michaels store in The Commons shopping center in September 2011 pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree attempted robbery in Berkeley County Circuit Court.
Deborah Ann Phipps, 34, of Hedgesville, W.Va., faces between five and 18 years in prison, Berkeley County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Gregory K. Jones said Wednesday in a news release. She is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 9.
A second felony count charging Phipps with conspiring with Michael Silver to commit the robbery was dismissed.
Silver was shot and killed Sept. 26, 2011, two weeks after the Michaels incident, by Martinsburg police officers after he carjacked a woman and her then-4-year-old daughter at Martinsburg Mall.
A grand jury concluded the shooting by the officers in the ATM lane of the bank drive-through was justified. The victims were not injured.
