Stratford Robber Faces 25 Years in Prison

A Stratford man will spend roughly the next quarter century in state prison for two robberies that culminated in his accomplice being shot to death by police. 

Dorelle Wallace, 22, pleaded guilty Tuesday in state Superior Court in Camden to two counts of armed robbery. Under the terms of his plea, Wallace will be sentenced to 25 years in state prison, of which he must serve 85 percent before he's eligible for parole. 

Wallace admitted Tuesday he and Dwayne Tribbett, 31, of Woodbury, robbed Joe the Jeweler in Pennsauken on June 15, 2011, and Community Check Cashing in Stratford on July 18, 2011. In the June 15 robbery the two men, along with a co-defendant, tied up employees and robbed the jewelry store on the 5600 block of Route 38.

On July 18, both Wallace and Tribbett were armed with guns when they approached an employee of Community Check Cashing as she opened the White Horse Pike business. They put a gun to her head and ordered her to open the safe. She delayed in accessing the money and the men fled without any cash in a silver Jeep.

A Lindenwold police officer spotted the vehicle driving on Coolidge Avenue and attempted to pull the Jeep over. After a short pursuit the men stopped the vehicle near the Bishop Court Apartments and jumped out. Tribbett ran into the apartment complex’s courtyard with officers in close pursuit and smashed a sliding glass door with his gun.

Police surrounded the apartment and for several minutes Tribbett stepped in and out of the apartment, whose occupants were not home. Each time he stepped out he brandished his gun and threatened officers, telling them he would not be taken alive, authorities said.  Police ordered Tribbett to drop his weapon, and when he did not a Lindenwold officer shot him in the chest. Tribbett was flown to Cooper University Hospital in Camden, where he later died.

A woman who admitted to being the pair’s getaway driver, Dana Brown, 21, also pleaded guilty Tuesday to a second-degree count of conspiracy to commit robbery and a third-degree count of making terroristic threats. She is expected to be sentenced to seven years in state prison She must serve 85 percent of her sentence before she is eligible for parole.

Wallace and Brown are scheduled to be sentenced April 12.

Weeks before police killed him, Tribbett and accomplice, Warren Christopher Davis, robbed a Woodbury bank, authorities said. Davis, 32, pleaded guilty Feb. 20 to the robbery of the Bank (now known as Fulton Bank.) Davis faces 20 years in state prison when he's sentenced in April.