Man sentenced for Benton convenience store robbery

BENTON, Mo. - A man was sentenced to prison for a robbery which netted less than $500.

The Sikeston Standard Democrat reported Michael Schneider, 20, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the 2008 robbery of the Express Fuel Center in Benton. Judge David Dolan heard the case Tuesday in Mississippi County on a change of venue from Scott County.

On Dec. 17, 2008, at about 7:30 p.m. Schneider entered the Express Fuel Center in Benton dressed in a cowboy hat, sunglasses, and armed with a revolver and demanded the clerk to give him the money in the cash register. The clerk complied.

Schneider left in a white car with handicap license plates driving northbound on Interstate 55. The Missouri State Highway Patrol eventually stopped the vehicle near Perryville.

Inside the vehicle, troopers found Schneider and Nicole Nichols, 17. Also officers found two handguns and $449 in cash.

At the Scott County jail, detectives with the Scott County Sheriff's Department obtained confessions from Schneider and Nichols.

According to a news release issued by Scott County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Boyd, Schneider entered an open plea to the first-degree robbery charge with a cap of 15 years to serve in the Department of Corrections.

As punishment, the defense requested shock incarceration followed by another term of probation based on his youth and no one being injured.

However, "the court heard from a victim, Brittany Bryant, who told the court of the nightmares she had and still has from looking down the barrel of Schneider's gun," said Boyd.

Bryant requested the court to give him as much time as possible in prison. Boyd requested the full 15-year sentence.

"This was not the defendant's first rodeo," Boyd said. "The state had already taken his youth into consideration in making him an offer. Sentencing him to anything less than 15 years given his prior felony record would send the wrong message to anyone thinking of robbing someone in the future with a firearm."

In Missouri, first-degree robbery is a dangerous felony requiring a defendant to serve 85 percent of any sentence prior to being eligible for parole, according to the prosecutor. "Schneider will not be eligible for parole until he reaches his 32nd birthday if the dangerous felony status is followed by the Missouri Parole Board," said Boyd.

At the time of the incident, Schneider was on the run from his felony probation officer out of the St. Joseph, Mo., for the felonies of forgery and stealing. He still awaits sentencing in Nodaway and Andrew counties for his felony probation cases.

Also Schneider faces an additional felony charge stealing of a motor vehicle from Andrew County. It was the car he was driving during the robbery of Express Fuel.

Nicole Nichols previously plead guilty to five years in prison for her part in the encouraging him to commit the robbery.