GOSHEN — The teenager who wielded a rifle as he and three friends robbed a City of Newburgh cab driver was sentenced Thursday in Orange County Court to prison time.

Deandre Burnett-Peacock, 17, had pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery, a felony, in the case. That was reduced from the first-degree robbery charge that he and co-defendants Jaziah Reynolds, 16; Markell Williams, 16; and Savion Knight, 16 — all of Newburgh — had faced. At the time of the Dec. 29 robbery, Burnett-Peacock and Reynolds were 16 and Williams and Knight were 15.

Burnett-Peacock held the rifle on the victim as the group robbed him, Assistant District Attorney Tonja Beemer told Judge Craig Brown on Thursday. The cab driver was called to the location specifically so they could rob him, she said, and the crime has drastically altered the victim’s life. He no longer drives a cab, and remains plagued by fear of what happened, Beemer said.

Peter Green, Burnett-Peacock’s lawyer, noted that an adult woman made the phone call to set up the robbery. Burnett-Peacock has taken responsibility, Green said, asking for youthful offender treatment, which would seal the conviction, or the minimum adult sentence of three-and-a-half years.

Brown noted that Burnett-Peacock denied his role in the crime until others implicated him, and that the second-degree robbery charge reflects a break from the armed robbery he actually committed. Brown sentenced Burnett-Peacock to three-and-a-half years in prison.

Williams and Knight also pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery, and are awaiting sentencing as juvenile offenders. Reynolds, who pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery with a chance at youthful offender treatment and a probation sentence, was free on bond until he violated the terms of his release in August. He's in Orange County Jail without bail, awaiting a Nov. 6 sentencing.

hyakin@th-record.com