Chester drugstore killers get life without parole

Jason Scott McClay would help out a customer he knew couldn't afford a purchase. He had a great sense of humor, and was described as the ultimate teammate and the glue that held his family together.

A huge hockey fan, the manager of a Rite-Aid store in Chester once treated a coworker to a Flyers game. That coworker, Tariq Mahmud, 25, would later engineer the botched robbery that led to McClay's murder.

On Friday, Mahmud, 25, who had called McClay his friend, and two codefendants were sentenced to life in prison without parole.

On the night of the killing, Sept. 19, 2013, McClay, 40, of Marple Township, Delaware County, was filling in for another manager and had stayed late to close the store.

"It's a sad fact that Jason McClay's death really came down to fate," Assistant District Attorney Christopher DiRosato said.

Delaware County Court Judge George A. Pagano gave Mahmud, who was found guilty of second-degree murder, an additional 10 to 20 years for conspiracy, to run concurrently with his life sentence.

David Wiggins, 25, who brought the gun to the robbery, also was convicted of second-degree murder. He received 10 to 20 years for conspiracy and 31/2 to seven years on weapons violations, both to run concurrently with the life sentence.

Rita Pultro, 24, fired the fatal shot. She was convicted of first-degree murder, and received additional terms of 10 to 20 years and 31/2 to 7 years.

Sentenced earlier were two codefendants, who had pleaded guilty and testified at the trial of the other three defendants.

Ashaniere White, 21, who helped plan the robberies, received 15 to 50 years, and Christopher Parks, 24, who drove the car the night McClay was slain, was given 22 to 64 years.

All five defendants are from Philadelphia.

In addition to Mahmud's employment at the store, White was attending ITT Technical Institute. Parks had played college basketball on scholarship. But whatever opportunities they had are gone. Their efforts to rob the Chester store on four occasions netted them only $700.

Both Mahmud and Wiggins addressed the victim's family, expressing their condolences. Pultro did not address the court.

"Mr. McClay will be in my prayers," Wiggins said.

In the courtroom, the feeling that it was all senseless was palpable.

Wiggins' uncle Robert Byrd addressed the court, offering condolences to McClay's families and admonishing the defendants.

"Trying to get fast money is an illusion," Byrd said. "Never works, never will. It only causes tragedy."

Margie Rieley, McClay's mother, addressed Mahmud in the crowded courtroom, saying it was his "greed and poor decision" that cost him his freedom. She asked Wiggins if he thought when he brought along the gun that the trigger would never be pulled. She told Pultro her actions "ripped a hole" in her family's hearts and sent four others to prison.

Her son, she said, "was the hero in this twisted society, where guns and drugs rob us all of our sense of security."