By Rapids City Times staff

WISCONSIN RAPIDS – A Wisconsin Rapids man has pleaded innocent to charges of robbing a Wisconsin Rapids Jimmy John’s restaurant at gunpoint.

Anthony Pepalinski, 54, entered the pleas June 5 in Wood County Circuit Court. He was identified by surveillance video and photos released to the public.

Pepalinski is accused of entering Jimmy John’s on Eighth Street South May 20, and asking what he could get for $2. When an employee said a soft drink and handed Pepalinski a cup, he allegedly pulled a gun and told the worker to fill the cup with cash.

The employee took the money out of the cash register, and then followed Pepalinski’s orders to walk to the back of the store.

Confidential informants identified Pepalinski and told police that he lived less than a mile from the store. Police went to Pepalinski’s home and found the gun where the informants said it would be.

Wood County Circuit Judge Todd Wolf found enough evidence in the case to move ahead. Pepalinski’s attorney entered a “not guilty” plea to the charge. A new court date was not immediately set.