Trent Richard of Des Moines accused of knifepoint robbery at Cedar Rapids Kum & Go

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Des Moines man accused in a knifepoint robbery at a Cedar Rapids Kum & Go early Friday had not yet left the building when police pulled into the parking lot.

According to a news release from the Cedar Rapids Police Department and a Linn County criminal complaint, two officers were on routine patrol at 4:34 a.m. when they pulled into the convenience store parking lot at 1420 Mount Vernon Rd. SE. The store clerk waved them down and said he was just robbed by a man at knifepoint and believed the man was still inside the store.

The officers then pulled their squad vehicle to the front of the store and observed the man, later identified as 19-year-old Trent Allen Richard, behind the counter holding a box.

When Richard saw the officers, he began running toward the west side of the store. Officers said they told him to stop but he ran out of the store. During the chase, he dropped the box, which contained 24 cartons of cigarettes valued at about $1,600, and also discarded a knife, according to the complaint.

Officers caught up to him and arrested him in the 800 block of 15th Street SE.

Richard is in the Linn County Jail, charged with first-degree robbery, second-degree theft and interference with official acts.

He also had a warrant out of Polk County for theft.

According to court records, he was accused of robbing a Des Moines QuikTrip last June. Through a plea agreement, he was convicted of first-degree theft and given a deferred judgment and two years of probation. In January, he escaped from the Fort Des Moines Men’s Residential Facility.