NEWPORT – Joshawa Devries of Newport was sentenced to 7½ years in prison Wednesday, three weeks after a jury found him guilty of robbing the South Beach Grocery at gunpoint last July.

At the end of a two-day trial Feb. 18, a jury deliberated for three hours before finding Devries guilty of first-degree robbery with a firearm, unlawful use of a weapon, menacing and second-degree theft.

A clerk was working alone in the market at 3:45 a.m. when a man wearing a mask from a torn T-shirt, pointed a gun at the clerk and demanded cash and cigarettes, according to a news release from the Lincoln County district attorney’s office. Newport police looked at the store’s security video and suspected the robber was Devries from their prior contacts and arrested him four hours later. Officers found the same brand of cigarettes taken from the store in Devries’ backpack, along with $120 in his wallet.

Prosecutors called 10 witnesses during the trial, including six from the Oregon State crime lab who used DNA analysis linking Devries to robbery.

The district attorney’s office said Devries has a criminal history dating back to 2014 for possession of methamphetamine, sex abuse, theft, criminal mischief as well as multiple probation and parole violations.