MANHATTAN -Janir Vega, 17, appeared in Riley County Court on Monday for sentencing under Judge Wilson after being arrested following a robbery spree near the K-State campus.

Vega was taken into custody on September 16, 2015 after an overnight search lasting several hours.

Vega was taken into custody for the offenses of aggravated robbery (X3) and conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery in relation to a string of robberies that shut down K-State and Manhattan Christian College campuses on Friday, September 4.

Attorney Blake Robinson, who motioned for a durational or dispositional departure so that Vega would get probation or a shorter sentence, represented Vega.

Robinson went into detail about Vega’s personal past, and argued that going into the Kansas Department of Corrections wouldn’t help Vega, who had been under pressure by adults that were also involved in the robberies.

Vega told Judge Wilson that he wanted to apologize to everyone involved, and that he was a victim of peer pressure.

Ransom Gardiner, one of the robbery victims, gave a statement to the court, saying he was approached from an alleyway after walking home from Aggieville in the early morning hours of September 4. Gardiner said a man ran up to him with what looked like a black semi-automatic handgun.

The man had him get on the ground where he took his phone and wallet at gunpoint. Gardiner admitted to being very shaken up for several weeks following the robbery.
Barry Disney, senior deputy county attorney in Riley County, argued against Robinson’s motion. He said Vega put the gun to Gardiner’s head, which made him a culprit, not a victim of peer pressure.

Disney read a transcript from Vega’s preliminary hearing where he didn’t contest any of Gardiner’s statements.
Judge Wilson sentenced Vega to 59 months with the Kansas Department of Corrections, with 89 days credit for time served.