Businessman Gets 4 Years For Drug Holdups Addiction To Crack Cocaine Led To Convenience Store Robberies With Toy Gun

Thu., Oct. 26, 1995

William Miller Staff writer

Family members sobbed in the courtroom as Donald Gunstrom rose before the judge Wednesday and said, “I’m not really a violent man.”

Nobody doubted him.

Last summer, Gunstrom pulled a nylon stocking over his head and robbed two Spokane Valley convenience stores using a toy pistol.

At the time, he was a 41-year-old businessman with a clean record and a teenage daughter.

But he owed drug dealers money and had a $500-a-week crack cocaine habit to feed. They told him to come up with the money - or else.

Gunstrom already had lost his construction business, his boat and his car to crack. The house was next.

In desperation, he decided to steal.

“It’s a tragic story,” said Kevin Curtis, Gunstrom’s lawyer. “This was a regular Joe, a hard worker until this drug took over.”

It began four years ago, casually, at an occasional party with friends, Curtis said. Before long, Gunstrom found himself using the drug every other day, then every day.

On Aug. 13, Gunstrom took drastic measures. He robbed the Zip-Trip on East Trent, grabbing $50 in cash.

The next day, he hit another Zip-Trip, this time on East Broadway. He fled with $126.

Store clerks didn’t realize the gun waved in their faces wasn’t real, said Deputy Prosecutor Jack Driscoll.

“Looking down the barrel of a gun is a scary thing for anyone to do,” Driscoll said.

Based on information from witnesses, sheriff’s detectives arrested Gunstrom the same day, and he immediately confessed.

He was suspected, but never charged, in two other robberies.

Wednesday, Gunstrom was in Superior Court facing 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 years in prison.

Judge Neal Q. Rielly imposed a four-year term for two counts of first-degree robbery.

While citing “tragic circumstances” behind the robberies that led an otherwise law-abiding man astray, Rielly said nobody forced him to get mixed up with drugs.

“The choice was yours,” Rielly said.

Gunstrom left the courtroom in handcuffs to the wail of grieving family members. His daughter yelled, “My dad! My dad!”

Said Curtis: “You almost wish high school and junior high school kids could listen to that.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

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