Teens charged with armed robbery of two pizza deliverymen

Published 12:26 pm Tuesday, February 25, 2020

By Shavonne Walker

shavonne.walker@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Two teens face felony robbery charges after deputies say the two ordered pizza and other food items using a neighbor’s address and robbed the deliverymen at gunpoint, according to the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office.

Kenneth Dillon Gilbert, 17, of the 4600 block of Jack Brown Road, was charged with two counts of felony robbery with a dangerous weapon. He remains in the Rowan County Detention Center under a $2,500 secured bond.

A Domino’s Pizza deliveryman called 911 from Hurley Elementary School on Saturday at 1:18 a.m. and said he’d just been robbed while making a delivery to a home in the 4600 block of Jack Brown Road. He said he arrived at the address with a $58.26 worth of food. He met with a woman whom he described as 5 foot 5 inches tall, with black hair, wearing a black bandana on her head. She wore a black running jacket with white stripes down the sleeves and black-rimmed glasses.

Shortly after that, a male wearing a Carhartt canvas-colored jacket with the hood up came out from behind a vehicle in the driveway. The male was described as being closer to 5 foot 4 inches tall, with a light-colored bandana across his face and blue jeans.

“You’re getting robbed. Get back in your car and leave brah,” the male told the pizza deliveryman. The man said he got into his car and drove to the school.

According to Capt. John Sifford, the two did not take any money, just the pizza and other food items.

A deputy went to the home, but couldn’t get anyone to come to the door. The deputy called the number from which the order was placed and got no response.

On Sunday, there was a call placed to 911 to say that a Pizza Hut deliveryman had been robbed at gunpoint around 1:30 a.m. The two people, a woman and man, took $32.21 worth of pizza and no money. The victim drove to Hurley Elementary School and called for help.

In that incident, the victim told deputies that a woman with dirty blonde hair approached him, took the pizzas, said thank you and walked away. A male appeared from behind the house holding a semi-automatic handgun. The victim guessed he was about 5 foot 4 inches tall and he was wearing a light-colored Carhartt jacket, with a bandana covering his face.

The male told the deliveryman, “We’re not paying you,” the victim said to investigators.

The deliveryman got into his vehicle, left and called 911 from nearby Hurley Elementary School.

A deputy made inquiries at the address that was given for the delivery and spoke with someone at the address. The person told them no one with that description lived there, but did point the deputy to another house.

A detective went to the home and a young man later identified as Kenneth Gilbert answered the door. He told the detective he lived there with his girlfriend, who came up behind him. The girl had on dark-rimmed glasses and fit the height and weight description from the first robbery. The detective asked if there was an adult in the home.

The officer asked if they could step outside. Gilbert asked the officer if he could first get his jacket. He returned outside with a light-colored Carhartt jacket. The detective spoke with the mother of the girlfriend, who confirmed she’d seen a Domino’s pizza box at the house before she’d gone to work. The woman consented to detectives checking her trash. They found a pizza box with a receipt attached to it for $58.26 on it.

The woman was asked to return home. Once there, she gave the detective consent to search her home. The detective said they were looking for a gun and she told them Gilbert brought a black BB gun with him from Virginia. Gilbert initially told the detective he gave the gun to a friend, but later admitted it was wrapped up and inside the washing machine.

According to Sifford, the gun was a BB gun, but it looked similar to a Glock handgun.

The detective also found the black running jacket with the white stripe on the sleeves.

The girl, 16, received juvenile charges for the offenses and Gilbert was charged as an adult. According to Sifford, despite the new juvenile law, Gilbert is considered an adult because the teen had previously been charged as an adult on other unrelated offenses.