SANFORD — City Manager Steve Buck said he expects to begin advertising as early as next week to fill a vacancy at the Public Works Department created by the resignation Monday of Donna Gray.

Buck, in an email response to questions, said Gray resigned at 11 a.m. Monday, about two hours after the commencement of an employment meeting. She has been the assistant to the public works director for many years.

Gray has been charged by police with robbery. Police allege she drove the getaway car in connection with the armed holdup of Eastside Convenience store Oct. 11. She was arrested Oct. 16 and placed on paid administrative leave from her job the same day.

Robbery is a Class A felony.

Police say Matthew Prior, 25, walked into the store at 4 p.m. that day, brandished a handgun and demanded money. Donna Gray’s daughter Jenna, 25, has also been charged with robbery; she was a passenger in the car, according to police.

There were numerous witnesses to the robbery, as well as Prior’s alleged exit from the store, wherein he was reportedly hit by a car chasing him through Carpentier Park – before getting into the white sedan that was parked on North Avenue that police say was driven by Donna Gray. Later that day, he was treated at Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New Hampshire, about 15 miles from Sanford, for the injury to his leg.

In an interview with police in the days following the armed hold-up at the store, Donna Gray allegedly told police that she believed Prior was injured at his job and that she drove him to the hospital for treatment in the early morning hours of Oct. 12. She allegedly claimed that she hadn’t driven in the area of Eastside Convenience store on the day of the robbery, but later told police she had been on North Avenue, which is nearby.

According to the affidavit, Jenna Gray told police she hadn’t been in the area of the convenience store that day.

Prior confessed to the crime, according to the affidavit filed by Sanford Police Det. Eric Small. He allegedly told police he was driven there by someone whose name he did not disclose, telling them he wanted to visit a friend. He told police the driver didn’t know he was planning a robbery. He said he had a heroin addiction, according to the affidavit.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.