Mar. 11—A Temple man who police said robbed a man in Reading and later led officers on a high-speed vehicle chase was found guilty of robbery by a Berks County jury on Thursday and sentenced to state prison.
Chad M. Goldsborough, 29, of the 600 block of Fifth Street Highway, took money from the victim in Reading after threatening to seriously injure him in February 2021, police said.
A warrant was issued for his arrest, and on March 31, 2021, as police tried to apprehend him, he led them on a high-speed chase on Route 12 that ended with him crashing, police said.
Police captured him near the scene of the crash, just east of River Road, following a brief foot chase.
Following a two-day trial before Judge Paul M. Yatron, a jury convicted him of felony robbery and harassment in the initial case.
Yatron sentenced him to five to 10 years in state prison.
The jury found him not guilty of one count of theft by unlawful taking.
Goldsborough had been in prison since April, 2021 and therefore got 343 days credit for time served.
According to police:
On March 31, 2021 a Wyomissing police officer spotted a man he believed to be Goldsborough, who was wanted on the robbery charges in Reading, in a North Park Road convenience store.
The officer called county dispatchers to have them run Goldsborough's name in a law enforcement database to verify the warrants.
The officer then contacted a Wyomissing criminal investigator to verify the man in the store was Goldsborough. That officer, in plain clothes, walked into the store and verified it was Goldsborough.
Both officers met with a state trooper across the street. Goldsborough and a female companion left the store and got into a car that headed west on Spring Street.
The patrolman and trooper followed the car in their marked patrol vehicles and turned on their emergency lights and sirens.
Goldborough's car turned onto the access ramp for Route 12 eastbound and accelerated, pulling away from the patrol cars that were traveling about 80 mph.
Goldsborough weaved through heavy lunchtime traffic on Route 12 and lost control just past the River Road exit. Goldsborough bailed from the car, leaving his injured passenger.
Police ordered Goldsborough not to move, but he ran through some trees to the railroad tracks. Both Wyomissing officers chased him and took him into custody.
Officers ordered the passenger out of the car, but she said she couldn't because her arm had been broken in the crash.
With the car smoking, they helped her out of the car. She was taken to Reading Hospital for treatment.