Christopher S. Johnson, 43, of High Ridge was sentenced to 13 years in prison for robbing the Dollar General store in High Ridge at gunpoint in last year, according to court records.
On Sept. 7, 2017, Johnson entered the Dollar General, 2713 High Ridge Blvd., wearing a bandanna over his face and concealing a gun in the waistband of his pants. He drew the firearm, chased a store clerk who ran to a rear storage room and then led her to the front registers while pointing the gun at her back, according to a probable-cause statement.
Johnson forced the clerk to open a register and give him money, and then he ran from the store with $121, the report said.
A witness reported seeing Johnson exit a wooded area and get into a nearby parked car. Aided by the eyewitness account and description, detectives located the vehicle at Johnson's home in the 2400 block of Gravois Road and found him there. Johnson gave detectives permission to search his home, and they found a black BB gun hidden in the attic, according to the report.
While detectives were interviewing Johnson, an eyewitness arrived and identified him as the person who got into the parked vehicle and fled, the report said.
Johnson confessed to the armed robbery, saying he committed the crime because he is a heroin addict. He also told authorities that after he robbed the store, he drove with a relative to St. Louis to buy heroin, according to the report.
Johnson pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery, a class A felony, and on June 1, Jefferson County Div. 2 Circuit Judge Darrell E. Missey sentenced him to 13 years in prison.
Jefferson County assistant prosecuting attorney David C. Casey handled the case.
The 13 years is to be served concurrently, or at the same time, with a seven-year sentence Johnson was previously sentenced to for stealing stemming from an October 2015 incident in St. Louis County, according to court records.
Johnson currently is in the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre.