Cigarette robber gets more than 6 years

A Vancouver man was sentenced Thursday to more than six years in prison for robbing an east Vancouver gas station at knife point in order to obtain cigarettes.

In an agreement with prosecutors, Cedric W. McNeal, 19, pleaded guilty in Clark County Superior Court to first-degree robbery. He faced up to 8½ years.

“This is going to go down on record as the most expensive cigarettes ever,” said Judge David Gregerson.

McNeal’s co-defendant, D’Anthony L. Williams, 14, of Vancouver pleaded guilty in Clark County Juvenile Court in August to the robbery. He was sentenced to 103 to 129 weeks in a juvenile detention center.

According to court documents, Williams and McNeal entered the Arco AM/PM at 116 N.E. 164th Ave. on July 30. McNeal held a knife to the throat of an employee. The employee was cut on his hand during an initial struggle. Meanwhile, Williams forced a male customer into a store cooler by holding a knife to his throat and demanded money from him and a female customer, the affidavit says.

The suspects stole 12 unopened packs of cigarettes from the store and then fled to a nearby house in the 15600 block of Southeast First Street.