By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A 31-year-old Alabaster man will spend the next 20 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to robbing a Calera gas station in 2014 and causing “serious physical injury” to the gas station clerk.

Anthony Todd Faison, who lists an address on Dogwood Trail in Alabaster, pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree robbery during a late September hearing in front of Circuit Court Judge Lara Alvis.

As a result of his guilty plea, Faison was sentenced to 20 years in the Alabama penitentiary, which is the minimum sentence if a firearm or deadly weapon was used in the commission of a Class A felony, according to his sentencing order.

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office brought Faison into custody on Feb. 18, 2014, and charged him with one felony count of third-degree burglary and a misdemeanor count of attempting to elude a law enforcement officer.

After Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Faison, they turned him over to the Calera Police Department, which charged Faison with one felony count of first-degree robbery.

Faison’s charge came after he allegedly robbed a gas station on U.S. 31 in Calera on Feb. 18, during which he allegedly stole an undisclosed amount of U.S. currency and caused “serious physical injury” to a female victim striking her in the face, according to Faison’s arrest warrant.

After the robbery was reported, the Calera Police Department issued a “be on the lookout” notice to surrounding law enforcement agencies with the suspect’s vehicle description.

A short time later, Sheriff’s Office deputies located Faison’s vehicle in Columbiana, where Faison allegedly fled from his vehicle and entered a residence, garnering the burglary and attempt to elude charges.

When he was arrested in 2014, Faison was on probation for a 2010 Alabaster gas station robbery he pleaded guilty to in 2011. According to court records, Faison also previously pleaded guilty to three third-degree burglary charges in 2005 and one third-degree burglary charge in 2008.