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Joseph Wayne Martell, 31, currently an inmate of the jail, entered a guilty plea prior to his scheduled trial recently. Martell is charged with the November 2006 armed robbery of the Medicine Shoppe in Clearfield. For robbery and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance he was sentenced to five to 10 years in state prison. He was fined $3 plus costs and must pay over $3,000 in restitution. Martell was also ordered not to enter the Medicine Shoppe in Clearfield and to have no contact with the victims. He must also undergo DNA testing and complete drug and alcohol counseling.
The charges stem from an incident on Nov. 10, 2006 ,when Martell entered the Medicine Shoppe. After speaking with an employee regarding a callus removing product he exited the store. A few minutes later he returned wearing a "skeleton" mask and gloves. He told the employee "just give me the stuff." When she told him she didn't know what he wanted, he said he wanted oxycodone/oxycontin and showed her he had a silver and black pistol under his sweatshirt. After he received 700 oxycodone pills valued at more than $500, he fled out the door on the west side of the street. Witnesses said he drove a silver SUV with no license plate attached at the rear of the vehicle, but it did have a white license plate on the front with "St. Marys" in red lettering.
Police were able to get fingerprints off some of the items touched by the suspect and, on March 9, they received a lab report identifying the prints as those of Martell. Also Martell's vehicle matched the vehicle seen leaving the scene of the robbery.
Prior to sentencing two of the victims addressed the court. One noted that Martell turned a pleasant work situation into a scary one. She said she could not close her eyes at night without reliving the incident.
She also noted that cancer patients needed the pills Martell took and she worried about the possible problems with the mediation being in the wrong hands including the possibility of an overdose.
"You've effected more people than you ever imagined," she said.
Martell also faces robbery charges with in two Elk County cases. According to a previous Courier-Express article, Martell allegedly entered Fairview Fuel in Kersey wearing a pillowcase over his head and brandishing a .22-caliber revolver.
After receiving $505 in cash, he fled through a rear door. Martell was out on bail for this case when he committed the Medicine Shoppe robbery. The second case involves the Jan. 29 robbery of Valley Farm Market in Weedville.
