Armed robbery suspect accepts plea deal

COEUR d’ALENE — A 23-year-old Florida man who pleaded guilty Friday to robbing the Best Avenue Zip Trip at gunpoint could be sentenced to 20 years behind bars.

Lance C. Harden’s criminal efforts last summer garnered him less than $100.

Originally charged with kidnapping, burglary and robbery, which carries a maximum life sentence, Harden accepted a plea bargain dismissing the kidnapping and burglary charge, but adding a count of felon in possession of a firearm.

First District Judge Lansing Haynes accepted Harden’s guilty pleas, ordered a presentence investigation and set March 14 as the sentencing date.

Harden, a construction worker from Florida, was arrested July 26 before 5 a.m., four blocks from the gas station and convenience store on 15th Street which had been robbed a half-hour earlier.

The store’s clerk had been outside when he heard a nearby chain link fence rattle and saw a person approach wearing a smiley-face mask, dressed in black and carrying a gun.

The clerk thought it was a joke and walked inside, according to a Coeur d’Alene Police report. The suspect followed and using a voice that seemed unauthentically low, called the clerk by his name, police said. The suspect ordered the clerk to empty the cash drawer and then began counting down.

“I am not afraid to shoot you,” the suspect told the clerk in a too-low voice, according to police.

After the man fled with $80, leaving a one dollar bill on the floor in front of the counter and two $5 bills in the parking lot, a police K9 tracked the suspect for several blocks but failed to locate the robber.

A Spokane County helicopter, deputies and Idaho State Police also helped in the search.

Police confronted Harden, who was walking, shirtless, covered in dirt, wearing basketball shorts with a new cut on his chest. He told police he had injured himself at work a day earlier, had failed to take a shower and was out for an early morning jog.

Police later learned the condition of Harden’s attire and the cut on his chest occurred when he was hiding from police.

Harden, who the store clerk eventually identified because he often bought Newport cigarettes at the store and lived nearby, later confessed to the crime.

According to the plea agreement, prosecutors would ask for a sentence of no more than 20 years for both felonies, with no more than four years fixed and 16 indeterminate. The U.S. attorney’s office would not pursue criminal charges, according to the agreement.

Harden told police he had come to Coeur d’Alene, via Indiana where his dad lived, to work, and once he saved around $35,000 he planned to return to Indiana to start a mobile marketing company.