Greenfield man gets prison term for armed robbery in Northampton

NORTHAMPTON — A Greenfield man has been sentenced to state prison for 1 to 3 years for robbing two Northampton package stores last summer, including once at knifepoint, the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.

Keith Shaw, 49, pleaded guilty in Hampshire Superior Court to armed robbery and shoplifting for stealing $165 worth of alcohol from one store and $79 worth from another in June 2024. When one of the store owners tried to stop him, Shaw brandished a knife, escalating the theft to an armed robbery.

Judge John Agostini accepted a joint sentencing recommendation of three years in state prison for the armed robbery charge and a concurrent one-year term in the Hampshire County House of Correction for shoplifting.

“The second incident escalated quickly from a shoplifting offense to an armed robbery when Mr. Shaw threatened the store owner with a knife,”said Assistant District Attorney Andrew Covington, who prosecuted the case, in a statement. Covington also credited the Northampton Police Detective Bureau for their investigation. “Fortunately, no one was injured.”

Shaw’s defense attorney, Allison Pash of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, joined prosecutors in the agreed-upon sentencing.

— Alexander MacDougall