WMBB News 13 - The Panhandle's News LeaderMan Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison for Robbery

Man Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison for Robbery

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Charles Douglas Stephens pleaded no contest Monday to robbery with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Assistant State Attorney Megan Teeple was preparing to take Stephens to trial this week on that charge, until Stephens made his surprise announcement. He also agreed with the state that he was a habitual felony offender.

Teeple was going to show that Stephens, 49, of 2023 Dorothy Ave., put a knife to Jimmy Brown's throat the night of July 3 and demanded all the money in Brown's wallet. Brown, of Chipley, who was celebrating his 56th birthday, surrendered more than $300 in cash. The men had met that night at Back Door Lounge on Front Beach Road. Stephens was causing a disturbance and had been asked to leave the bar. Brown walked out with him and convinced Stephens to leave the area to avoid trouble. The two men began walking together and stopped for a smoke at Dorothy Avenue and Front Beach Road. That's when the robbery occurred.

Stephens was arrested three days later when he returned to the Back Door Lounge and security there recognized him. Bay County deputies tracked Stephens down from the tag of the vehicle he was riding in that night.

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Information provided by the State Attorney's Office