Max penalty handed down in armed robbery spree in Merced County

Two men convicted of robbing three stores over about one hour in 2016 were sentenced Monday to lengthy prison sentences, the Merced County District Attorney’s Office confirmed.

Bryan J. Green, 28, was ordered to serve 41 years behind bars. His co-defendant, Gregory L. Lowery, 32, was sentenced to more than 24 years behind bars, according to Mathew Martinez, the deputy district attorney who prosecuted the case.

“I think (the sentences) reflect the seriousness of the crimes and the strength of the evidence in the case,” Martinez said following Monday’s hearing. “I think it’s important to remember, too, that these defendants held people at gunpoint. At least three people were victims and will have to live the rest of their lives with that trauma.”

Green and Lowery robbed two stores in Merced beginning around 12:30 p.m. April 11, 2016, when they swiped cash from a store clerk at the K&K Oriental Market on Main Street in Merced. A store clerk chased one of the suspects down outside the store and wrestled him to the ground before the second suspect stuck a gun to the employee’s head. One of the men kicked the employee in the head as they were leaving, according to police.

About 15 minutes later, they stormed into U-Save Market on Yosemite Parkway, ordered everyone in the store onto the ground and demanded money from the register, according to Merced Police Department reports obtained by the Merced Sun-Star.

One of the men told the clerk “I will kill you” and another told everyone in the store “Nobody move; don’t want nothing but the register,” reports say.

At one point during the robbery, one of the men struck the clerk in the head with the barrel of a handgun, witnesses told the police.

About an hour later, two armed men, later identified as Lowery and Green, robbed the Super 8 Market on North Winton Way.

Prosecutors said Lowery and Green used the cash to buy two used cars that same day; a silver 2003 Saab coupe and a gold 2001 Jaguar sedan.

Police detectives tracked Lowery to a home in Sacramento where he was captured a few days later. Green eventually surrendered to police, according to investigators.

A Merced County jury convicted both men in August following a trial.

Martinez praised the work by the lead investigators in the case, Merced Police Detective Chris Russell and Sheriff’s Detective Chris Sziraki.

Commissioner Jeanne Schechter handed down the maximum sentences for each defendant, prosecutors said.

This story was originally published October 23, 2017 at 7:10 PM with the headline "Max penalty handed down in armed robbery spree in Merced County."