Sometimes, appearance is everything. When Andrew Woods walked into a Centreville restaurant last fall with a gun, he wanted to rob the place, but he didn't intend to shoot anybody.
Actually, he couldn't have, if he'd tried, because it was only a BB gun and he'd taken out the ammunition. But initially, the employees at Sweetwater Tavern thought it was the real thing.
And that's what got Woods, 18, of Falls Church, into so much hot water — and led, Friday, to his being sentenced to a year in jail for attempted robbery.
The incident occurred Oct. 18, around 1 a.m., when Woods, 5 feet 10 inches and 240 pounds, entered through the restaurant's back door, brandishing a weapon and demanding money from the employees. But the manager, a 31-year-old Centreville man, realized that the gun was just a toy, so he and other employees tackled and held the intruder until police arrived.
"The confrontation at Sweetwater could have gone differently than it did," said Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney John Murphy. "Although he went in with a toy gun, it looked real. Had one of the employees had a gun, he or someone else could have been killed or struck with an errant bullet."
THE PROSECUTOR called the case "a bit unusual" because Woods had little or no criminal record — "and then he commits a crime near the top of the chart." Said Murphy: "This incident was just pregnant with ramifications. There are so many ways that this crime could have been worse."
The bottom line, he said, is that no one should have to go through something like this. "They had to wrestle him to the ground and hold a knife to his throat while waiting for the police to arrive," he said. "That's a traumatic event."
Noting that the state sentencing guidelines in this case only call for six months in jail, Murphy said, "This offense deserves incarceration, and I'm surprised that the guidelines are so low."
When Woods pleaded guilty, Jan. 6, in Fairfax County Circuit Court, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Toni Fay said the teen's explanation was that "he did it because he had no job and no money." But defense attorney David Hall chalked it up Friday, Feb. 13, to his client's youth and lack of maturity.
"This was a juvenile, immature crime — destined for failure from the start," he said. "No one was in any danger but, of course, that's no excuse for what he did. He was extremely intoxicated, and they tackled him when he tried to run away."
Afterward, said Hall, Woods was remorseful about his conduct and cooperated fully with the police officer investigating the crime. "It was a BB gun — and he went to the trouble of unloading it before he even went in there," said Hall. "So not only was it a toy guy, but it was an unloaded one."
HE TOLD Judge M. Langhorne Keith that, at the time of the offense, Woods had a serious alcohol problem and was tremendously depressed. Hall said Woods had been seeking help for both problems since he's been in jail and still needs alcohol-abuse and mental-health treatment.
Hall suggested that a sentence of "not more than six months" would be appropriate, and he noted that Woods had already served four months. The teen-ager then stood and spoke prior to sentencing. Said Woods: "I would like to apologize to the victims and the manager of Sweetwater Tavern and say how sorry I am for what I did."
But the judge had the last word. "It's surprising that a man of your background [did such a thing]," said Keith. "But punishment for a crime like this is required — and I'm going to exceed the guidelines."
He then sentenced Woods to five years in prison, suspending all but one year. He also placed him on 18 months probation and ordered him to participate in a substance-abuse treatment program.
"Conditions of your probation are that you go to school full-time or have a full-time job and [complete] the recidivist-prevention program," said Keith. "And I will authorize the sheriff to place you on work-release — although you may not be eligible, due to the nature of your crime."
Afterward, outside the courtroom, Murphy said he was pleased with the outcome and the judge's sentence. "I'm glad he exceeded the guidelines," he said. "I don't think they were appropriate in this case."