ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — A Fairview man was sentenced Tuesday to serve more than seven years in prison after pleading guilty to robbery with a dangerous weapon and obtaining property by false pretense.
Bobby Eugene Darnell, 53, was arrested in June after an incident at The Spot mini market on Smokey Park Highway.
Buncombe County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to an assault call at store late on the night of June 25, the district attorney’s office said in a news release. A woman told deputies Darnell had borrowed her vehicle but did not return it as expected.
“The victim stated that as she demanded Darnell to return the vehicle, Darnell stepped out of the vehicle, threatened her with a knife and drove away aggressively,” the district attorney’s office said in the release.
Investigators obtained surveillance video from The Spot verifying that Darnell assaulted the victim with a knife.
The next morning, Darnell represented that he was the vehicle’s owner and sold it for scrap to Asheville Metal and Recycling for $378.35.
Darnell was as sentenced to serve an active prison term 89-119 months and ordered to pay restitution to the victim.