Two young Anchorage men were sentenced on Thursday for three armed robberies in early 2015.
Robert Potts, 22, and Johnny DeGrate III, 20, were sentenced to nine years and 11 1/2 years, respectively. Prosecutors say the men committed a string of robberies.
"The pair robbed women at gunpoint in two separate incidents in the Dimond Mall parking lot, and a third woman in a Wal-Mart parking lot," according to the District Attorney's Office in Anchorage. "All three incidents took place during the day."
DeGrate was separately found guilty of robbing a pizza delivery driver in January 2015, according to the district attorney.
Prosecutors say officers eventually caught the men partially because of the unusual car they used during the shopping center robberies – a purple PT Cruiser owned by Potts.
The trial was set to begin in October, but was postponed for two days when DeGrate cut off his ankle monitor and didn't show up to court. Attorneys had been arguing how to proceed with the case when DeGrate was picked up by police in downtown Anchorage.
Assistant District Attorney Jack Gist noted Superior Court Judge Kevin Saxby's sentencing remarks about DeGrate's longer sentence. The judge said DeGrate was identified as the gunman in each of the robberies, and he believed the pizza deliverer's testimony that he thought he would be killed.