CLEMMONS, N.C. — Editor's note: The video in this story is from Oct. 2018 shortly after the robbery happened.
A man was sentenced to 26.5 years in prison Thursday after robbing a store and setting it on fire in 2018.
David Curtis Smith, 59, pleaded guilty to Hobbs Act robbery, carjacking, use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime, violence and arson after robbing the Stop and Save store on Styers Ferry Road in Clemmons Oct. 20, 2018.
The United States Department of Justice said evidence showed Smith and a friend who helped in the crime entered the store between 9:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. as the store clerk was cleaning and preparing to close for the night.
Investigators said Smith’s friend told the clerk to open the cash register and the clerk refused.
Officials said Smith waved a gun and told the clerk to do what they said.
WFMY reported in 2018, the store clerk had just returned to work after being gone for six months undergoing cancer treatment.
Investigators said the clerk obeyed and opened the cash register and was held at gunpoint while the other suspect stole cash and over $1,000 in tobacco products.
Officials said the suspects then tied the clerk’s hands and feet with zip ties and moved him to the back office.
The Department of Justice said one of the suspects soaked the victim and the back office with diesel fuel and then lit a paper towel with a lighter and threw it on the fuel.
Investigators said the two suspects then poured more diesel fuel onto the store floor and tried to set the store on fire.
The suspects then took the victim’s car keys and locked the security gates at the front of the store, using a chain and padlock, before leaving, according to investigators.
Investigators said one of the suspects stole the victim’s 2011 Ford pickup truck that was parked outside.
Officials said the store clerk was able to break the zip ties around his legs and get to the front door.
After he saw the suspects leaving, he was able to get between the doors and the security gates to yell for help, according to investigators.
Investigators said the clerk’s truck was found on an access ramp to Interstate 40 near Farmington Road and Rainbow Road early Oct. 21, 2018.
Officials said the inside of the truck was soaked with diesel fuel and there was material burning slowly on the front seat and in the gasoline fill pipe.
Investigators said Smith and his accomplice were arrested on Nov. 2, 2018, in Whytheville, Virginia.
DOJ said United States District Court Judge Loretta C. Biggs imposed a 235-month prison term on three of the four counts, and an 84-month term for brandishing a weapon, to run consecutive to all prior sentences at sentencing.
Investigators said Smith was also ordered to pay $366,989.07 in restitution and to serve a 5-year period of federal supervised release.
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