Sammy Carpenter, 58, of Lima, was sentenced Monday to a minimum of two years in prison for robbing the Corner Grocery on North Elizabeth Street in Lima at knife-point earlier this year.
J Swygart | The Lima News
LIMA — A Lima man who robbed a mom-and-pop convenience store at knife-point earlier this year was sentenced Monday in Allen County Common Pleas Court to a minimum of two years in prison.
Sammy Carpenter, 58, of Lima, pleaded guilty last month to an amended second-degree felony count of robbery in connection with the incident. He was indicted in April on a first-degree felony count of aggravated robbery.
According to court documents, police were dispatched on the evening of Feb. 22 to the Corner Grocery, 500 N. Elizabeth Street in Lima, in reference to a panic alarm. Upon their arrival officers learned the store had been robbed by an unknown Black male wearing a hooded sweatshirt, black pants, black shoes, a face covering and black sunglasses.
The assailant reportedly entered the store brandishing a knife and approached the clerk demanding money from the cash register. The clerk complied and the suspect fled. Detectives, with the assistance of store owners, subsequently identified the man as Carpenter.
The following day Carpenter returned to the store because he had heard he was implicated in a robbery and wanted to deny it to the owners. Carpenter said he was willing to cooperate with the police and gave the store owner his address and police located him there, court documents show.
Interviewed by police, Carpenter admitted taking part in the robbery, saying that he was paid $5 for his participation in the robbery.
Approximately $475 was stolen during the incident, prosecutors said during Monday’s hearing.
Attorney Carroll Creighton of the Allen County Public Defenders Office said Carpenter did not cause any physical harm to the store clerk, who prosecutors said has since resigned due to anxiety over the hold-up.
“Certainly he threatened harm; he admits that. Unfortunately, he just made a terrible decision,” Creighton said of his client.
Carpenter apologized to the court. “This should have never happened,” he told Judge Jeffrey Reed.
