Gregory Paul Hess, 65, was sentenced to 60 months in prison for his armed robbery of a Shell gas station in West Seattle by King County Judge Sharon Armstrong on April 1.

Hess pled guilty on March 3 to first degree robbery charges in the Feb. 5 robbery and appeared at the King County Courthouse for his sentencing.

He earned the nickname “Polite Robber” after John Henry, the robbery victim and owner of the Shell station at 2805 s.w. Roxbury, released surveillance video of Hess’s crime to media. The video shows Hess apologetically robbing Henry of just under $300 using a handgun-style pellet gun.

Both prosecutors and Hess’s attorneys recommended Hess be given 51 months, the lower end of a 51 to 68 month sentence range, however Judge Armstrong decided on the middle ground, giving Hess 60 months based upon prior convictions and his use of a pellet gun intended to look like a real handgun.

Hess’s attorneys painted him as a non-violent man who was desperate for money before Judge Armstrong made her decision.

“Mr. Hess is not a violent man. He was driven to commit this crime by financial hardship … and the manner in which he carried out this crime was particularly docile,” his defense said in court.

“Last December Mr. Hess woke up to the realization that he could not pay rent or cover bills … he was living solely on his social security check which was insufficient to cover his basic expenses. He sought work, applying for jobs with several employers … but his employment search was predictably unsuccessful because of his prior convictions,” his defense continued.

“Without pre-planning, without maliciousness and without much thought at all he used a pistol-style pellet gun to politely rob Mr. Henry at the Shell station.”

His defense went on to say Hess was cooperative when arrested by police, even pointing out the evidence (pellet gun, clothing) they would need to convict him.

Judge Armstrong asked for a victim impact statement from Mr. Henry and was told one was not provided to the court.

“It is my understanding that (Mr. Henry) wished to be here today to testify on Mr. Hess’s behalf,” Hess’s attorney said, adding Mr. Henry was unable to get away from work for court.

Before sentencing Hess, Judge Armstrong asked him if he had anything to say.

“Well, I would certainly like to apologize to Mr. Henry for what I did. I honestly can’t imagine what he must have felt … I feel really, really bad about it and I did at the time, when I went home after committing the crime I honestly sat there for about two hours before being able to do anything”

“I just, I apologize. There’s nothing more I can really say, I don’t want to offer any excuses. What I did was – perhaps heinous is too strong of a word – but it was very bad and I really wish that I had not done it.”

“I would like to be able to follow the attorney recommendation Mr. Hess, but I can’t,” Judge Armstrong said. “It was a robbery with what appeared to be a deadly weapon, you have committed robbery in the past twice and so I think I need to acknowledge the fact that you took responsibility … early in the life of this case and for that reason I’m going to impose the midpoint of the range but I can’t in good conscience impose the lower range.”

In addition to time served, Hess must pay back the $300 he stole, cannot have contact with Mr. Henry for life, lost his right to possess firearms for life (unless reinstituted by a judge), lost his right to vote while incarcerated and will have 18 months of probation upon his release.

To read about the polite robbery in detail, please check out the Herald article Polite Robber charged with first degree robbery.