SHAMOKIN - A city man accused of robbing about $400 from a Sunbury Street convenience store Wednesday night previously served a state sentence for burglarizing a restaurant in Atlas.
Nicholas C. Birster, 29, of 814 Bear Valley Ave., formerly of Locust Gap, pleaded guilty to felony burglary in 2009 and was sentenced to serve 8 to 24 months in state prison for breaking into Village Towne Restaurant earlier that year.
He had been refused parole and served the maximum sentence. He was released from SCI/Mercer on Aug. 11, 2011, according to the state probation and parole office.
He now stands accused of threatening to stab a cashier in a robbery at the former Uni-Mart at 517 E. Sunbury St.
Birster was quickly apprehended and arraigned on felony robbery and related charges at 1:30 a.m. Thursday by Magisterial District Judge John Gembic III.
He failed to post $100,000 cash bail and was sent to Northumberland County Prison, Sunbury.
A preliminary hearing on the charges is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at Gembic's Shamokin courtroom.
A first-degree felony robbery count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, according to Northumberland County District Attorney Tony Rosini. A minimum sentence is based on a guilty party's prior criminal record, he said.
'Going to stab you'
Birster is accused of entering the convenience store at 9:27 p.m. with a blue bandana covering his face, threatening to stab the cashier and leaping over the counter while ordering her to open the cash register.
"Open the (expletive deleted) register or I am going to stab you," Birster allegedly told the cashier, according to court documents.
"What?" The cashier reportedly said.
"I'm going to stab you if you don't open the register," Birster allegedly said.
The cashier obeyed Birster's demands and he left the store with the cash, court documents say.
A citizen gave chase and Birster was apprehended at Sunbury and Liberty streets by police officers from Shamokin and Coal Township just three minutes later and three blocks west of the store.
The brief foot chase alternated between Sunbury and Dewart streets because Birster ran on four cross streets - Shamokin, Rock, Washington and Liberty - before being apprehended.
Birster was found in possession of a pair of lighters but not a knife, police say, and was wearing a blue bandana around his neck at the time of his apprehension.
A wad of cash was found laying in the gutter near Liberty and Dewart streets. Police also recovered a hooded sweatshirt and skull cap Birster allegedly wore during the robbery.
On Thursday, Shamokin Police Cpl. Darwin Tobias III, the arresting officer, said approximately $400 was taken from the store.
The cashier told police that while she saw the suspect holding two lighters, his other hand was in his pocket, court documents say.
The witness who gave chase identified Birster as the suspect. Two witnesses who encountered Birster around the store prior to the robbery told police he fit the suspect's description.
Additional charges filed by Tobias against Birster are terroristic threats, theft, simple assault and reckless endangerment.