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Robbery with toy gun nets city man lengthy sentence

Kruge was ‘horribly sick’ night of incident

HOLLIDAYSBURG — An Altoona man who used a toy gun to hold up a neighborhood convenience store almost two years ago will serve 15-30 years in a state prison.

Judge Timothy Sullivan imposed the sentence Thursday on Nicholas Todd Kruge, 28, who admitted to the March 28, 2015, robbery of Fefi’s grocery store, 1224 Second Ave., where he pointed a gun toward the store clerk and a customer who walked in during the robbery.

“It wasn’t a real gun,” Kruge told Sullivan. “But I expected them to think it was real.”

On trial in December, Kruge tried to convince jurors that he wasn’t the robber dressed in dark clothing with his face covered, as captured on the store’s videotape.

In court Thursday, Kruge told the judge he was “horribly sick” while inside the store on the night of the robbery.

“I’ve never felt more of a low feeling than I did at that time,” Kruge said.

Assistant District Attorney Derek Elensky advised Sullivan that because Kruge had a prior conviction for aggravated assault, Kruge is subject to a mandatory 10- to 20-year sentence for second violent crime convictions, under what is commonly referred to as the “three-strike” rule.

Because the jury convicted Kruge of robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery, Elensky said the judge could impose 10- to 20-year sentences for each offense and run them consecutively.

“You saw the evidence,” Elensky told the judge. “It was a cold, calculated robbery to steal a couple of hundred bucks.”

Defense attorney Mark Zearfaus acknowledged the mandatory sentence application but asked that Kruge be able to serve them concurrently.

“Ten years is a lot of time just because there’s someone else involved,” Zearfaus said.

Kruge’s co-conspirator, Lance Phillips, who remained outside the store in his vehicle during the robbery, is serving a 3¢- to 25-year sentence for his role in the robbery. He entered a plea in December 2015.

Elensky also asked Sullivan for justice on behalf of the store clerk and customer, both of whom testified at the trial about what they described as a frightening and terrifying experience.

“Taking a gun and holding it to the head and chest of someone, what more threat could there be?” Elensky said. “This is not somebody who should be out in the community.”

Sullivan crafted the 15- to 30-year sentence by deciding that the mandatory sentences would be served concurrently, then the judge added jail time for two counts of simple assault and two counts of terroristic threats.

Elensky described the sentence as justified and referred to Kruge as violent and dangerous.

Zearfaus said he would only appeal at Kruge’s request.

“I don’t think there are any appeal issues from the trial or sentencing,” Zearfaus said.

Kruge told the judge he wished he would have known earlier about “this mandatory stuff” affecting his sentence. He tried to downplay his first “violent crime” by saying that happened 10 years ago.

Court records show he entered a guilty plea on April 15, 2011, to aggravated assault, one of several charges Altoona police filed against him for an incident in November 2010. That’s when police said Kruge held his wife captive and tried to hang her in the basement of their residence. Other charges, including attempted homicide, were dropped in exchange for the guilty plea.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 946-7456.

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