Pair get 15 months in prison for Pizza Hut robbery

Pam Carlson said she’d hoped the woman who assaulted her husband with a hammer during a robbery at the Pizza Hut where she works would’ve received a more lengthy prison sentence.

Carlson recounted Friday how she said three women, including two who had worked at the Daleville restaurant, had planned the robbery before committing it.

Thursday, Circuit Court Judge P.B. McLauchlin sentenced Erica Waddell, 24, and Ashley Williams, 24, to seven years in prison. Dale County District Attorney Kirke Adams said both women will serve 15 months behind bars, with the remainder of the sentence to be served on probation.

“I’m not real happy with it, but at least they didn’t get a slap on the wrist,” Carlson said.

Adams said the robbery unfolded after two people wearing masks went into the Daleville Pizza Hut on Oct. 26, 2007, shortly before the restaurant closed. He said Williams struck the manager’s husband, Carl Carlson, in the head with a hammer. Waddell then stole the money bag. Adams said Carl Carlson chased and caught one of the robbers, who was later identified as Williams.

“It’s very rare that we have a hammer robbery, and also young females committing these types of crimes,” Adams said. “I think the courts sent a message that no matter who you are, if you commit this type of crime you are going to go to prison.”

Williams later confessed to the robbery during an interview with Daleville police, and was charged with felony first-degree robbery. Adams said Williams implicated two other women—Waddell and Shantario Taylor. Adams said Taylor was the apparent getaway driver. Taylor’s robbery case is still pending.

Williams pleaded guilty to felony second-degree robbery in February. Waddell pleaded guilty to the same charge a month later, after results from a DNA analysis from a mask found showed Waddell was at the crime scene.

Pam Carlson said Waddell and Taylor both worked at the restaurant, and Taylor had even worked earlier in the night of the robbery as a pizza delivery person.

“It wasn’t a spur of the moment robbery. They planned it that night because they knew I had a lot of money ,” Carlson said.

She said the women only escaped with the change bag because she’d had computer problems that night.

“Waddell apologized in court, and I really do believe she felt bad,” Pam Carlson said. “That Ashley Williams, she showed no remorse. I wish she’d a got more time.”