A 12-member jury found 24-year-old Pouch Phillip Ruach guilty in Freeborn County District Court this week of first-degree aggravated robbery related to an armed robbery of the West Front Street Kwik Trip last August.

The decision came after a day and a half of testimony and the closing arguments of Freeborn County Assistant Attorney David Walker and Ruach’s public defender Stephen Erickson. The jury deliberated for seven minutes.

Ruach is scheduled to be sentenced in court on Feb. 9. He is facing 68 months in prison.

In September, Ruach entered a not guilty plea to the charges, but he amended that to guilty in November for the reason of entering into a plea agreement.

In December during an earlier court date, he withdrew that guilty plea after Judge John A. Chesterman indicated that if he were to sentence Ruach that day, he would sentence him to 68 months in prison. He said he couldn’t make any findings that Ruach would be amenable to probation.

According to court documents, the robbery took place the morning of Aug. 21. Police found Ruach on Lincoln Avenue just south of the Front Street intersection.

Reports indicated officers smelled a strong odor of alcohol on his breath, and after searching Ruach’s pockets, they found a Kwik Trip sack containing coins and other money totaling about $326. Also in the bag were two small cash register receipts with the heading “Safe Drop” and store No. 804, which is the Front Street Kwik Trip store number.

Officers later found the knife believed to have been used in the robbery at the intersection of Front Street and First Avenue, documents state.

During later discussion with a Kwik Trip clerk who was at the station during the incident, the clerk told a police detective that the man who robbed the store pulled the knife out of his pocket and had it in his right hand and later in his left hand. He kept saying “Gimme it all,” according to court documents.

Ruach was later identified in both a photo lineup and in the video from the Kwik Trip store, reports stated.

Ruach has been in the Freeborn County Jail since the August incident.