A Lawrence County man, captured early Sunday after a convenience store robbery, confessed to having robbed another store hours earlier, state police said.

Shawn Aaron Hobel, 27, of Ellwood City, had been sought since police received reports of the first robbery at about 10 p.m. Saturday at the Last Minit Mart on Perry Highway in Muddy Creek, Butler County.

Though the suspect threatened the clerk, saying he would shoot her with a gun he had in his pants, no weapon was produced. The clerk relinquished the contents of the cash drawer, $241, police said.

Police caught up with him yesterday shortly after a holdup at Drucker's General Store on New Castle Road in Worth.

The store was robbed at 12:30 p.m. yesterday, police said.

The clerk at the general store was not moved by the suspect's threat of a gun. When the clerk responded that she would call police, the suspect claimed he was just joking.

By then, state police in two counties already were searching for Mr. Hobel.

In New Castle, a warrant had been issued earlier last week for his arrest on a charge of retail theft.

Troopers in Butler County used information from the previous warrant to justify a review of video surveillance at the convenience stores. The clips confirmed the suspect's identity, police said.

Mr. Hobel was arraigned before District Judge Kevin O'Donnell on charges of robbery, attempted robbery, making terroristic threats, theft and receiving stolen property.

He is being held in the Butler County Jail on $200,000 bail, pending a preliminary hearing Nov. 3 in Slippery Rock.

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