Man who used wheelchair in Rolex theft gets 6-year sentence

A Connecticut man who rolled into a jewellery store in a wheelchair, asked to see a $37,000 watch, then got up and sprinted out has been sentenced to six years behind bars.

A Connecticut man who rolled into a jewellery store in a wheelchair, asked to see a $37,000 watch, then got up and sprinted out with the expensive timepiece has been sentenced to six years behind bars.

Connecticut man who rolled into a jewellery store in a wheelchair, asked to see a $37,000 watch, then got up and sprinted out has been sentenced to six years behind bars. (Reuters Representational Photo)

The Stamford Advocate reports that 37-year-old Larry Johnson was also sentenced Wednesday to eight years of probation.

The Waterbury man pleaded guilty in September to robbery, larceny and assault.

Authorities say Johnson entered a Stamford jewellery store in a wheelchair in May 2015 and asked to see a Rolex watch. Once he had the watch, he got out of the wheelchair, used pepper spray on the clerk and the security guard, and knocked the guard to the ground as he fled.

Johnson was tied to the theft by a fingerprint on the wheelchair.