Freed on murder rap, Petillo charged with robbery

Twenty-one year old Francis Petillo, one of two men freed of the charge of murder of Hilberto Aragon when a motion of nolle prosequi was entered, was today charged with Conspiracy to Commit Robbery in connection with the same incident when he appeared in Magistrates’ Court. It is alleged that on May eleventh, 2004, Petillo and Basil “E.T.” Willis conspired to rob Aragon, a wholesale grocery vendor who was shot and killed during the robbery. Magistrate Sharon Fraser did not offer Petillo any bail because he is already serving a five year sentence for robbery. Petillo’s case was adjourned until February first. He and Willis were let off on the murder charge when the nolle prosequi was entered in April, 2007. Aragon was fatally shot when he stopped the delivery truck he was driving at a Chinese shop in Lake Independence to deliver groceries.