Published: October 14, 2009 11:42 pm      

Plea entered in Commerce Brookshire’s robbery case

A Commerce woman has been sentenced to jail after entering a guilty plea in connection with a reported shoplifting of a bottle of beer from the Commerce Brookshire’s, which resulted in the filing of felony aggravated robbery charges.

Peggy Sue Bilyeu, 45, entered a plea of guilty Wednesday during a hearing in the 196th District Court to a lesser charge of assault causing bodily injury, a Class A misdemeanor. Under a plea bargain arrangement, Bilyeu was sentenced to 30 days in the Hunt County Jail, with 30 days credit for time served.

Bilyeu was one of two women, the other being Pamela Florene Timmons, who were charged with aggravated robbery in connection with the incident from early September. Neither woman had been indicted in connection with the case.

Both women were taken into custody by the Commerce Police Department on the evening of Sept. 8. Officers were responding to a reported shoplifting at the Brookshire’s on Culver Street, where an employee said he witnessed Timmons walk out of the store with a 40-ounce bottle of Bud Ice, valued at $1.79, without paying for the beer. He followed Timmons out to the parking lot, where Timmons was alleged to have entered a 1996 Jeep and to have told the driver, Bilyeu, to “gun it.” Bilyeu was alleged to have put the Jeep in reverse, striking the employee and injuring his knee.

Officers later found the Jeep in the 300 block of Hickory, where they arrested both Timmons and Bilyeu for the alleged robbery.

The charge was filed as a robbery, due to the store employee allegedly receiving injuries during the incident. It was enhanced to an aggravated robbery as the Jeep was considered as a deadly weapon used in the commission of the offense.

Aggravated robbery is a first-degree felony, punishable upon conviction by a maximum sentence of from five to 99 years to life in prison and an optional fine of up to $10,000.