Richard L. Gray, Sequoyah County district attorney, said Friday that Karl Jason Potochnik, 25, was sentenced to 10 years in state prison for the Oct. 25 armed robbery of EZ Mart, which is located on the corner of U.S. Highway 59 and U.S. Highway 64 on the west side of Sallisaw.
Gray said Potochnik entered the store and threatened the clerk with a knife before emptying the cash register and fleeing from the store on foot.
Potochnik was apprehended by Sallisaw police a few miles from the crime scene, and the store clerk was able to make a positive identification of Potochnik. The stolen money, amounting to about $128, was returned to the store.
Sallisaw Police Chief Shaloa Edwards said last month that the armed robbery was reported to the police department at about 4:19 a.m. Oct. 25, and by 4:31 a.m., Potochnik was behind bars.
In another case against him, Potochnik was also sentenced to two 10-year prison terms for uttering a forged instrument and knowingly concealing stolen property and a one-year prison term for a misdemeanor possession of controlled dangerous substance.
Those sentences will run concurrently with the robbery count, according to court records.
