Teen Sentenced For Store Robbery

A Coeur d’Alene judge on Wednesday sentenced a 17-year-old man to up to five years in prison for robbing a convenience store last summer.

Nicholas LaFountain was 16 years old when he robbed the Petro Stop and Shop at 1501 Sherman Ave. in June. He walked into the store with a loaded shotgun and pointed it at the clerk, demanding money.

Although LaFountain still is considered a juvenile, he was prosecuted in adult court because of the serious nature of his crime, said Barry Black, Kootenai County deputy prosecutor.

“The message needs to get out there that if juveniles are going to participate in these types of crimes it simply is not going to be tolerated,” Black said.

LaFountain was arrested after someone heard him bragging about robbing nearly $500 from the store. The witness told authorities.

Although LaFountain originally was charged with armed robbery, prosecutors agreed to reduce the charge to aggravated assault in exchange for a guilty plea.

At his sentencing hearing Wednesday, LaFountain apologized to the clerk he had robbed. The clerk quit his job shortly after the robbery because he was so terrified by the incident, Black said.

LaFountain’s attorney asked that the youth be sentenced as a juvenile. But 1st District Judge Gary Haman ordered LaFountain to spend five years in adult prison. However, the teen will be eligible for parole after one year and will receive credit for the approximately four months he already served behind bars.

Black hopes that LaFountain’s prison sentence will deter other youths from such crimes.

“I don’t know what prison is going to do to Nick,” he said. “I just pray he can get through what he’s going to go through in the next year and come out of it a better person.”

, DataTimes