NORFOLK, Va. — CORRECTION: This story has been updated to remove two incorrect descriptions of the type of crimes committed at the Food Lion stores.
Two men who pleaded guilty to burglarizing two Norfolk Food Lion stores were sentenced to prison Friday, the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's Office said.
Delton Lavon Clemmons, 33, was sentenced to two active years in prison, and his co-defendant, Zachery Michael Bessey, 32, was sentenced to more than two active years in prison.
They burglarized the Food Lion on 7527 Tidewater Drive on Nov. 4, 2021. Bessey had worked for a Food Lion as a teenager and was familiar with the general layout of the franchise's stores, according to the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office.
Bessey used a reciprocating saw to cut a hole into the roof of the store and they disabled the surveillance camera in the management office.
Bessey used an electric angle grinder to cut a hole through the concrete and steel safe, stealing more than $35,000. Clemmons acted as the lookout while Bessey stole the money.
They committed a "nearly identical" burglary about a month later on Dec. 6, 2021, at the 1895 East Little Creek Road Food Lion where they stole more than $29,000.
"Cutting your way through the roof of grocery stores is no ordinary burglary. These crimes were significant and premeditated," Commonwealth's Attorney Ramin Fatehi wrote in a news release.
On April 19, Clemmons pleaded guilty to burglary, possession of burglarious tools, and grand larceny.
He was sentenced to a total of four years and eight months in prison, with four years suspended conditioned upon 20 years of good behavior, indeterminate supervised probation and paying $32,473 in restitution.
On April 13, Bessey pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary, two counts of grand larceny, and two counts of conspiring to commit burglary and larceny.
He was sentenced to a total of 30 years in prison, with 27 years and nine months suspended. He will also have to pay $32,473 in restitution to Food Lion once he gets out of prison as a condition of his supervised probation.
The two were also arrested in a similar burglary committed at a Food Lion on Ferrell Parkway in Virginia Beach, which led to their implication in the Norfolk burglaries.
They pleaded guilty in the Virginia Beach Circuit Court in late 2022 to charges stemming from that burglary. Clemmons was sentenced in Virginia Beach to an additional year in prison and Bessey was sentenced to an additional two years in prison.
They will serve their sentences for the Norfolk and Virginia Beach burglaries consecutively.
