Robbery lands Earls in prison for 14 years

A man who beat and robbed an alleged drug dealer will serve 14 years in prison for his crime.

The defendant, Michael Shawn Earls, entered a guilty plea before Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley to the charge of aggravated robbery and was given the 14-year sentence. His alleged partner in crime, Michael Arrizon, faces the same charges and is still awaiting his day in court.

The men are accused of robbing John F. Roller of Green Hill Road early last year and taking his pants during the home invasion ‘ pants which contained around $600 in cash.

‘When I clicked that lock it was over for me. I didn’t have a chance,’ Roller testified during preliminary hearing for the suspects last year, saying he heard something at his door and went to check on the noise. ‘The door hit me in the face.’

Roller said one of the men sat on top of him, trying to shove a toboggan in his mouth telling him to ‘shut up, shut up’ while the other man, who was armed, began searching through the house for valuables. Both men were wearing toboggans and bandanas to hide their faces. Roller noted from the witness stand he had never met the two suspects before in his life. He added the men fled with his pants containing his wallet after they had wrestled them from him. He noted he suffered a broken ankle during the fight.

It was the other contents of his wallet which led to the arrest of the men, namely Roller’s parole card, found on the men when they were stopped in Sumner County shortly after the robbery.

The defense for both Earls and Arrizon suggested Roller’s money came from illegal activities, specifically drug dealing. Roller had been released from prison shortly before the robbery after serving seven years for narcotics trafficking and has since been arrested again on drug charges.