Two poker-game thieves get six years

Teens sentenced after changing pleas to guilty

By ERIK JOHNS
Advocate Reporter

NEWARK -- Two Columbus teenagers accused of robbing a poker game at gunpoint decided to change their pleas to guilty on Wednesday and let the chips fall where they may.

Separate judges in Licking County Common Pleas Court sentenced them each to six years in prison, the minimum sentence for aggravated robbery with a firearm specification.

Carlos D. Ross Jr., 19, of Columbus, entered the Summit Station Lions Club, 7600 Summit Road, Pataskala, shortly before midnight on Oct. 27 with a semi-automatic pistol to rob about 20 people who were playing a private charity poker game, prosecutors said.

After taking about $3,000 in cash from the players, Ross got into a car driven by Max A. McGuffin, 18, also of Columbus, and sped off.

Prosecutors said McGuffin had regularly played in the private card game, and he had staked out the location for the robbery.

The two were chased by a group of men from the Lions Club, and eventually officers from the Pataskala and Reynoldsburg police departments, records stated.

McGuffin crashed the car into a tree, and both were caught after a brief foot chase. Prosecutors said McGuffin provided the gun that Ross used to hold up the card players.

"I'd like to apologize to my family. I'd like to apologize to each person I harmed," Ross said before his sentencing. Accepting full responsibility for his actions, Ross said to Common Pleas Judge Jon R. Spahr, "I'm willing to take whatever you give me."

While no one was injured during the robbery, Spahr said "Somebody did get hurt -- those people," as he pointed to Ross' family in the courtroom.

"When I read over (the case record) I just shook my head," Spahr said. "No prior record, graduated from high school. ... I wrote down, 'Why?'"

Ross and McGuffin were each charged with one count of aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony. The charges included a firearm specification, which requires a mandatory three-year prison sentence in addition to any other sentence imposed.

Common Pleas Judge Thomas Marcelain sentenced McGuffin to six years a few minutes before Ross appeared in front of Spahr for his sentencing.

"I am responsible for my actions," McGuffin said. "I would like to say that I regret the decision I made that night."

Reporter Erik Johns can be reached at (740) 328-8543 or ejohns@nncogannett.com