A man convicted of second degree robbery and assault has been given a very long prison sentence due to his increasingly serious criminal record. 37-year-old Christopher Sage was found guilty by a jury in September for an incident last January. Sage had gone into the Dollar Tree on Athens Avenue and stole items that he concealed in a bag. The store manager confronted him on his way out and Sage assaulted him and another employee with a sharp pointed object. Sage had 10 prior felony convictions, he was on parole at the time for a standoff in 2001 when he was drinking a bottle of Whiskey in the front yard of a private bed and breakfast on Riverside Drive near the north end of California Street. He had told police that he might make them shoot him, adding that he had just been released from prison for the fifth time. The Dollar Tree incident represented a third strike. His defense claimed he had committed the crimes because of mental health, drug addiction or being abused as a child. Last week sage was sentenced to 35-years-to-life in state prison.
– Steve Gibson