Man Sentenced in Home Depot Robbery and Car Attack

Albany County District Attorney Lee C. Kindlon announced today that the man who stole merchandise from the Latham Home Depot and threatened store employees with his vehicle when they attempted to stop him will be heading to state prison for 25 years.

Philip Sarner, 44, was sentenced by the Honorable Andra Ackerman in Albany County Court Monday after a jury found him guilty in February of one count of Robbery in the First Degree While Threatening Use of a Dangerous Instrument and one count of Criminal Mischief in the Fourth Degree.

On Sept. 21, 2023, Sarner entered the Home Depot at the Latham Farms shopping mall on Troy Schenectady Road and was spotted on surveillance video acting suspiciously as he took Milwaukee power tools from the shelves. He loaded a black Husky contractor's bag with hand tools and headed toward an emergency exit.

A Home Depot loss prevention specialist and a fellow employee, who was seven months pregnant, confronted Sarner as they attempted to recover stolen property. Sarner dropped several items on the ground and ran to his vehicle.

That's when he drove his mother's minivan directly at the employees, forcing them to take cover behind a door. Sarner jumped a curb, crashed into the building, exited his vehicle, retrieved the stolen merchandise and fled the scene.

A discretionary persistent felon, Sarner was later arrested by Colonie Police.

Assistant District Attorney Ryan Carty of the Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.