By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
An Ohio man who helped to case the Hays Dollar General store before an armed robbery in July of last year, was sentenced to 21 months in prison Friday.
Bryan Anthony Parsley pleaded no contest last month in Ellis County District Court in Hays and was found guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery, a level seven person felony, for his role in the July 21, 2022, armed robbery of the Dollar General Store, 1208 E. 27th, Hays.
Parsley, according to court documents, agreed to help Batalova Senuoke commit armed robbery of the Dollar General store. Senuoke, armed with a handgun, threatened the Dollar General employee and forced the employee to give him cash.
Ellis County Attorney Robert Anderson said at the plea hearing in April and the sentencing Friday Parsley entered the store with Senuoke and helped check to make sure there were no children in the store.
But Parsley eventually said he did not feel comfortable and left the store, stealing a package of toilet paper.
Senuoke has been convicted of armed robbery for his role in the incident and is awaiting extradition to Kentucky where he is expected to a lengthy prison sentence for similar crimes there.
Senuoke, Parsley and a woman were arrested near Oakley after a brief chase with law enforcement.
Because of his prior criminal history, Parsley was facing between 19 and 23 months in prison but was also eligible for probation.
Friday, Anderson and Parsley’s court-appointed Defense Attorney Cassy Zeigler asked the court to sentence Parsley to prison time but grant a downward departure to 13 months in prison, which would equal out to time served.
Parsley has already served 300 days, or about 10 months in the Ellis County Jail and waived extradition back to Ohio where Anderson said they expect he will serve prison time for a parole violation.
Parsley was on parole at the time of the incident so he falls under Kansas’ special rule No. 9 giving the judge the option to sentence him to jail. And that is exactly what Ellis County Judge Tom Drees did on Friday.
Drees sentenced Parsley to 21 months in prison with the Kansas Department of Corrections.
Anderson had argued it did not make fiscal sense for the state to pay to house Parsley in Kansas when he is going back home to Ohio where he will serve time in prison for parole violations.
He said the robbery was horrible but as the court records show he did not actually take part in the violent part of the robbery and left only with a package of toilet paper. Anderson said he believed it showed what a “desperate” situation Parsley was in.
Drees disagreed and said Parsley may not have taken part in the actual armed robbery but, “he is responsible” for what happened and that he should have known what Batalova Senuoke was capable of doing in that situation.
According to Drees, Senuoke held a handgun to the store employee’s head when he demanded money, terrorizing the victim.
Drees said Parsley has 23 prior convictions, five felony drug convictions and five felony gun convictions, all out of Franklin County, Ohio.
Drees also said the state of Kansas can afford to house Parsley and he does not know if Parsley will actually serve time in Ohio for the parole violation. He was skeptical that he would.
As a result of Drees’ sentence of 21 months in prison, Parsley is eligible for 20 percent good-time credit and the sentence could be reduced to 16.8 months. Because he has already served 10 months in the Ellis County Jail, he is expected to serve about 6.8 months with the Kansas Department of Corrections.
Parsley is also subject to 12 months post-release supervision.