LIMA — An Allen County jury needed less than an hour Wednesday to find a Lima man guilty of using a large hunting knife to rob an Elizabeth Street convenience store.
Andrew Smith, 29, was convicted on the second day of his jury trial of the three counts against him: aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony; carrying a concealed weapon, a felony of the fourth degree; and having a weapon while under disability, a third-degree felony.
He will be sentenced April 24.
According to court documents, the Corner Grocery store at 500 N. Elizabeth St. was robbed at knifepoint on Dec. 4, 2018. Coincidentally, the store employee who was working at that time was also working on Feb. 7 of last year at a sister store — the Dairy Market at 531 W. Kibby St. — when the same man who had robbed the Corner Grocery two months earlier entered the establishment. The clerk recognized the man and contacted the Lima Police Department, who responded to the Kibby Street location.
Upon their arrival officers saw the man, later found to be Smith, walking away from the market and ordered him to stop. Smith instead began to flee and was shortly apprehended by officers after attempting to shed a backpack he had been wearing. A search of the backpack revealed a loaded .22 caliber revolver and a large hunting knife similar to the one used in the Dec. 4 robbery at the Corner Grocery. The clerk identified Smith as the perpetrator in the earlier armed robbery.
Smith was previously convicted of a 2009 robbery/home invasion case and spent two years in prison for that offense, according to court documents.
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