A Battle Ground man was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for robbing a convenience store and groping the female clerk last year.
Matthew D. Zook, 40, pleaded guilty March 11 in Clark County Superior Court to first-degree robbery and fourth-degree assault, each with sexual motivation.
In a written statement, the 22-year-old woman said she no longer feels safe out in the community or working any similar job. In a pre-sentencing investigation, she said that since the incident, she never leaves the house without her stun gun and pepper spray and that she struggles to form relationships with people, especially at work.
Defense attorney Josephine Townsend said Zook was diagnosed with schizophrenia when his mental health was evaluated for this case.
Zook is a registered sex offender from a 2019 conviction for third-degree child molestation. In that case, he groped an 11-year-old girl in the checkout line at a Vancouver Safeway. Senior Deputy Prosecutor Jessica Smith said Friday that both victims were strangers, and Zook’s behavior appears to be escalating because he brandished weapons during the 2021 assault.
Zook said Friday that he regrets his actions and that he intends to do better in the future. The pre-sentencing investigation notes Zook is now taking medication for his mental health diagnosis.
Battle Ground police were dispatched shortly before 9 p.m. March 18, 2021, to Jiffy Mart at 100 E. Main St., for a silent alarm. When officers arrived at the convenience store, they spotted a woman crying from behind the locked entrance, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The woman told police she’d been ringing up items for a customer when he pulled out a knife and stun gun. The man pocketed the items he’d placed on the counter before demanding to see the employee’s breasts while brandishing his weapons, the affidavit says.
Then, the robber groped the employee. He fled when she informed him police were on the way, according to the affidavit.
The employee described her assailant as a tall, bald man wearing blue clothing and a medical mask. She described the weapons to officers, as well. During her interview, the owner arrived and allowed officers to view the store’s camera recordings. In the video, police could see a man threatening the employee as she had described, the affidavit says.
The employee also told police she had entered the suspect’s information from his ID card for a credit transaction, which officers used to identify Zook as the robber. They found him hiding in bushes two blocks away from the Jiffy Mart, according to the affidavit.
Zook was wearing the same clothing seen in the store’s video, and a knife and stun gun were located in his backpack, according to the affidavit.
