Citrus County Sheriff's Office deputies have arrested a Dunnellon man in connection with the Tuesday armed robbery of a Homosassa convenience store.

Arrested was Robert Lee Cason, 20, of 3602 W. Riverview Lane.

The store at 400 S. Suncoast Blvd. was robbed at about 11 p.m. on Tuesday. Cason is said to have entered the store and asked for cigarettes. After the clerk put a pack of cigarettes on the cash register, Cason is said to have taken out a gangue, pointed it at the clear and demanded money from the register.

After getting the money, the arrest report says, Cason was handed the money and a carton of cigarettes by the clerk. As she was doing that, another clerk approached, and Cason is then said to have turned the gun on that clerk.

After a speaking brief monolog about his needing money for his mother's funeral and drugs, Cason is said to have fled the store on foot.

Three tips identifying Cason from video surveillance photos came into the county's Crime Stopper's web site, and after a special photo pack was prepared, a store clerk positively identified Cason in the photos as the man who had robbed the store.

On a tip that Cason was in his girlfriend's home on West Halls River Road in Homosassa, deputies went to that address. Cason was found in the home, and after being read his rights, told deputies he had witnesses who could prove he was selling "Roxy's" to them at the time the robbery is said to have occurred, but couldn't name those witnesses.

He also said that, although he had done robberies and the past, he did not do this one. He said the handgun used in the robbery didn't' belong to him, and that he didn't need to rob a convenience store to get money because "he sells pills and that he make a lot of money."

Cason added that he knew that a convenience store doesn't have much money and that he would rather rob a drug dealer.

Cason was taken to the Citrus County jail, where he was booked on charges of armed robbery.

His bond was set at $50,000.

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