Gerald Fuller rolled through three counties and drained cash from 13 businesses over four months last year.
"You were effectively a one-man crime wave," Lackawanna County Judge Vito P. Geroulo told the shackled serial robber before sentencing him to 6½ to 13 years in state prison on Monday.
Usually wearing a mask and with his hands stuffed inside his pockets to give the impression that he had a gun, Mr. Fuller forced cashiers at doughnut shops, sandwich shops and gas stations in Lackawanna, Luzerne and Susquehanna counties to hand over thousands of dollars.
Before Mr. Fuller addressed the judge, his attorney described a once promising young man who earned well over $100,000 as a salesmen before he lost his job and his wife, and turned to alcohol.
Mr. Fuller, 40, never intended to hurt anyone and turned to crime so he could buy food, said his attorney, Joseph Toczydlowski. He had no prior criminal record, Mr. Toczydlowski said.
In Scranton, Mr. Fuller robbed a Valero gas station at 501 Pittston Ave., two Joe's Kwik Marts at 701 N. Keyser Ave. and 1327 Providence Road, an E-Fuel business at 801 Pittston Ave. and a Krispy Kreme at 511 Moosic St., police said.
In Dickson City, he robbed a Turkey Hill at 925 Main St., police said.
In Luzerne County, he pulled off robberies at businesses in West Pittston, Exeter, Jenkins Twp., Duryea and Plains Twp., police said.
Police finally caught up with him in June 2012, arresting him minutes after he robbed a Burger King on Business Route 6 in Archbald.
The cases were transferred to Lackawanna County Court, where Mr. Fuller pleaded guilty to several felony robbery charges before his sentencing on Monday.
Standing before the judge with his head bowed and wearing a prison jumpsuit, Mr. Fuller apologized to the cashiers he terrorized and police officers who rushed out to the businesses to try to catch him.
"I was raised better," Mr. Fuller said. "And I know better."
Contact the writer: smcconnell@timesshamrock.com, @smcconnellTT on Twitter