The man who robbed a Biddeford cheese shop in 2023 was sentenced to 20 years in prison, the York County District Attorney’s Office said.

Russell Pease, 52, of Old Orchard Beach, robbed Nibblesford Cheese Shop after posing as a customer interested in local food and wine. But when store owner Ian Kern opened the register to ring Pease out, the man pulled out a gun and poked Kern in the chest with it, demanding money, Kern told the Press Herald at the time.

Judge Matthew Tice sentenced Pease on Monday, siding with the state, which had requested a sentence of two decades in prison.

Pease stole between $500 and $600 from the cash register, plus $30 to $40 from the tip jar, before forcing store owner Kern into the back room in February 2023, Kern said.

The man had previously been convicted of armed and bank robberies in New Hampshire, the office said.

“It is due to the bravery of Mr. Kern and the thorough police work by the Biddeford Police Department and their law enforcement partners that a dangerous criminal is now beginning a lengthy prison sentence,” the office said.