Man Sentenced to 5 Years for Conspiring to Rob Prostitute at Gunpoint in 2022
NORFOLK, Va. – Starley O’Neil Shipman, 34, was sentenced on Friday, Oct. 11, to serve five years in prison after he and another unidentified individual worked together to rob a prostitute with whom Mr. Shipman had gotten a motel room in 2022.
On Oct. 12, 2022, Mr. Shipman was staying in a room at the Motel 6 on North Military Highway with a woman who solicited her services to him as a prostitute. At some point earlier that day, the victim left the room and went to a nearby store, where she won $2,500 from a gaming machine. The victim told Mr. Shipman — who had stayed behind in the motel room to use drugs — about her winnings before she returned to the room. Mr. Shipman then contacted another man, and the two agreed to rob the victim of her winnings. Shortly after the victim returned to the room to meet with Mr. Shipman, Mr. Shipman’s associate knocked at the door. When the victim answered the door, the associate pointed a gun at her, and Mr. Shipman grabbed the victim from behind and demanded she give her winnings to the other man. When the victim refused, both men assaulted her until she gave them her money, and both men fled from the motel room. The victim chased after the men, called Norfolk Police to report the robbery, and went to a hospital for injuries to her face.
The victim only knew Mr. Shipman by a nickname but was able to identify him to investigators by finding his name in the phone app that the two often used to exchange money. The victim also recognized Mr. Shipman in a photo that investigators pulled from the motel’s surveillance footage. Using this identifying information, investigators secured warrants against Mr. Shipman for armed robbery, conspiring to commit armed robbery, using a firearm in the commission of robbery, and conspiring to commit burglary.
Mr. Shipman was a fugitive until he was arrested in September 2023. Mr. Shipman told investigators following his arrest that he had set the victim up for robbery in exchange for the other individual providing him with drugs. The identity of the second man remains unknown.
On July 25, Mr. Shipman pleaded guilty to armed robbery and conspiring to commit armed robbery. In exchange for Mr. Shipman’s plea, the Commonwealth agreed to dismiss his two other charges. Judge Tasha D. Scott accepted Mr. Shipman’s plea agreement.
On Friday, Judge Scott sentenced Mr. Shipman to serve five years in prison and suspended an additional 15 years on the conditions that Mr. Shipman complete five years of uniform good behavior and two years of supervised probation following his release.
“The victim in this case trusted Mr. Shipman, and Mr. Shipman repaid her trust by beating and robbing her,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney. “The law protects all people equally, no matter who they are or how vulnerable. We are glad that the victim in this case is all right, that she came forward and told the truth, and that she helped us hold Mr. Shipman accountable for his crime.”
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Anthony J. Balady prosecuted Mr. Shipman’s case on behalf of the Commonwealth, and Norfolk Police Detective David L. Todd led the investigation.
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