PINE TWP, Mercer County — A Butler County man is jailed on $250,000 bail while awaiting a hearing next week on charges he robbed a Grove City area convenience store clerk at knifepoint.

Keath A. Sherbondy, 35, of Butler was dressed in all black with a bandanna over his face and carrying a machete-style knife about 8:45 p.m. Wednesday when he walked into the Kwik Fill on West Main Street Extension in Pine Township, police say.

He accosted an employee in back of the store, grabbing her by the collar and saying, “This is a robber,” according to a police report.

The suspect placed the knife to the woman’s back and walked her to the cash register at the front of the store, police said.

Investigators said Sherbondy stole an undisclosed amount of money from the register and walked away, heading west on Route 58 through several yards and a wooded area.

Authorities were called and state troopers and Grove City police got a good look of the robber by reviewing store surveillance video.

A Grove City officer needed just 15 minutes to capture Sherbondy. The officer found him walking on the side of Route 58 headed toward Grove City.

The police report noted that he was “covered in grass clippings” and “sweating profusely.”

Not long afterward, police said, Sherbondy confessed to the crime during an interview.

Troopers also recovered the stolen money — hidden in Sherbondy’s underwear.

Sherbondy was arraigned on charges of robbery, simple assault, theft, terroristic threats and receiving stolen property. He was placed in the Mercer County Jail.

A preliminary hearing will be Oct. 1 at the office of District Judge Neil McEwen in Pine Township.