Robbery Trial Averted

HARRISONBURG — Two men accused of brazenly robbing a Harrisonburg pharmacy last year won’t go to trial this week as scheduled.

 

Bryan T. Bowers and William J. Fisher plan to plead guilty to the February heist at Medicap Pharmacy on Virginia Avenue, according to documents filed in Rockingham County Circuit Court late Friday.

 

Neither man has a deal with prosecutors to reduce the charges in exchange for their guilty pleas.

 

Both men were scheduled to go to trial on Thursday for their roles in the Feb. 2 robbery of the store at 1851 Virginia Ave., just north of Harmony Square.

 

They face up to life in prison. It’s unclear when they will be sentenced.

 

Fisher, 21, of Warrenton, is charged with two counts of felony robbery, two counts of felony abduction and one count of felony use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Bowers, 23, of Harrisonburg is charged with two counts of felony robbery and two counts of felony abduction.

 

Court documents filed by Bowers’ attorney allege that Fisher was the mastermind of the robbery.

 

At an earlier hearing, pharmacy owner Mel Anderson testified that two men later identified as the defendants entered the business, held him and a co-worker at gunpoint, tied their hands and ordered them to hand over certain drugs.

 

Fisher and Bowers fled the scene with the narcotics and were arrested two days later in Harrisonburg.

 

Contact Jeremy Hunt at 574-6273 or jhunt@dnronline.com