3rd man pleads not guilty to Apollo robbery

Published 10:15 am Friday, January 8, 2016

A third man pleaded not guilty to his role in the robbery at Apollo Liquors & Superette the day before Thanksgiving.

Levell Devell Booth, 22, pleaded not guilty Thursday to one charge of aggravated robbery and one charge of simple robbery, both felonies, after he and three other men fled Apollo with $204 worth of liquor on Nov. 25.

Levell Devell Booth

Levell Devell Booth

Two other men, David Ansell Dorenzo, 21, and Leonard Lamar Booth, 24, both previously pleaded not guilty to one count of aggravated robbery and one count of simple robbery, both felonies.

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Officers responded to a report of a robbery at Apollo Liquor, 903 W. Oakland Ave., around 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 25.

Two store clerks told an officer four males fled the store without paying for four bottles of cognac valued at about $204, according to a police report.

The report stated the clerk at the register thought the men might steal something, and the second clerk in the back said he saw on the cameras three of the men stuffing bottles of liquor in their sweatshirts, and he went and stood in front of the door. Then one of the men pushed him out of the way and he fell back against a counter, hurting his back.

The suspects then fled east on First Avenue Southwest in a Buick LeSabre.

An officer located the suspects’ vehicle and two men fled the car. A second officer saw two of the suspects running north on Fourth Street Southwest between houses along the street.

The officer apprehended Dorenzo, and other officers apprehended Booth, who was in the back seat of the car.

An officer found a large, unopened bottle of Hennessy cognac in the Buick, and a witness gave an officer a Remy Martin Champagne Cognac box with an unopened bottle of liquor, which he found in his yard between his house and garage. Officers also found a bottle of Remy Martin 1738 in the front seat of the Buick.

Banfield Elementary School was on a soft lockdown for a time during the incident.

Officers with the Austin and Rochester police departments later identified Levell Booth and Jashon Jason Cornell, 19, as the other two suspects from security photos. Cornell was identified as the suspect who assaulted the store clerk; however, he has not yet been arrested.

Dorenzo and Leonard Booth are scheduled for court Jan. 14, and Levell Booth is scheduled for court April 15.