W. Phila. man admits being ‘lookout’ in Market East robbery

A West Philadelphia man admitted today to playing lookout while his accomplice beat and robbed an 83-year-old man in a lavatory at the Gallery at Market East shopping mall in Center City.

Joseph R. Peruto, 27, pleaded guilty to robbery and criminal conspiracy in the Sept. 10 attack, when John J. Gabel was hit on the head, knocked out, and robbed of $50.

The plea, negotiated by Assistant District Attorney Vincent Regan and defense lawyer Perry P. deMarco Jr., includes a prison term of 31/2 to seven years.

A provision of the deal - not publicly described - could reduce Peruto's sentence later if warranted, said Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Rose Marie DeFino-Nastasi, who set sentencing for March 27.

Regan declined to comment afterward on whether Peruto had agreed to testify against his alleged accomplice, Jason Morgan, 23, of Germantown.

In outlining the plea deal, Regan said Peruto had told police that he guarded the restroom door as Morgan robbed the frail man.

Regan said that a surveillance camera had shown Peruto loitering outside the lavatory, and that a police officer recognized him as a man he had seen there a day earlier.

Gabel, a World War II veteran, testified at Morgan's Jan. 15 preliminary hearing about the attack but was unable to identify his assailants.

Peruto was arrested Sept. 13 when he bolted from a West Philadelphia rowhouse, apparently believing that police officers serving bench warrants nearby were after him. He immediately confessed, authorities said. Morgan was arrested Oct. 22 after the owner of an Upper Darby bar recognized him from a newspaper photo.