Yesterday Judge Donald Segerstrom sentenced William Shawn Sturgis to 11 years in state prison for an armed robbery of a local convenience store committed 16 years ago. On April 5, 1999 at just after 5:00 a.m. Sturgis entered the Circle K located on Peaceful Oak Road and, armed with a .38 caliber handgun, held up the clerk. He got away with the contents of her cash register and some cigarettes. Later that same day the Oakdale branch of Wells Fargo Bank was held up by an armed male and female who escaped with an unknown amount of cash. On April 6, 1999 Sturgis and his teenage girlfriend were arrested for the bank robbery. Detectives from Tuolumne County interviewed Sturgis regarding the Circle K robbery and he admitted to the crime. Later in 1999 the Tuolumne County District Attorney’s Office charged Sturgis with one count of robbery and an enhancement for personally using a firearm during the robbery. A warrant was issued for his arrest. In 2002 Sturgis was convicted of multiple counts of armed robbery, stemming from his conduct in Stanislaus County and sentenced to over 27 years in prison. When a criminal is sentenced to prison he is responsible to make a demand that he be transported to any county where he is facing charges. Sturgis did not fill out that paperwork until 2013 when the Tuolumne County District Attorney’s Office received the official demand to have the case brought to trial or dismissed. Yesterday Sturgis pled to the robbery with the personally armed enhancement and was immediately sentenced. He will serve his time after he has finished serving the 27 years, and will not be eligible for parole until he has served over 9 years of 11 year sentence.
