WOODSTOCK — More than week after postponing his verdict, Circuit Judge Dennis L. Hupp on Friday found a Woodstock woman guilty on three charges after determining she was the getaway driver in the attempted robbery of Ben’s Diner in January.
Hupp delivered his verdict after hearing testimony on May 25 and closing arguments Friday from Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Louis Campola and defense attorney Margarita Wood. Wood represented the defendant, Andrea Scalf.
Scalf, 43, was identified by two witnesses during the bench trial as the person who came up with the idea to rob Ben’s Diner; she had worked there in the past, and her teenage daughter was working there at the time of the attempted robbery.
Scalf’s daughter was the first witness to testify for the prosecution during the May 25 bench trial. She said that three men walked into the diner wearing dark clothing with their faces covered, and one man pointed a gun in her face and demanded money. Once she told them that the money was in the office, he held the gun to her back as she showed two of the men where it was – one man stayed by the door as lookout. Since the office door was locked, the two men tried kicking it down. When they were unsuccessful, they all fled the diner.
Scalf was crying, with her face in her hands, during her daughter’s account of what happened that night. Scalf then watched as her daughter stepped down from the witness stand and walked out of the courtroom, avoiding her mother’s gaze the entire time.
Briahnna M. Brown 