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By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune September 04. 2015 3:56PM Golden Wok robber headed to prison A Medford man who threatened to stab a Golden Wok restaurant worker in the chest during a robbery was sentenced Friday to five years and 10 months in prison. Rhett William Howerton, 44, of the 1800 block of Crater Lake Avenue in Medford left a note behind when he robbed the Medford restaurant while displaying a knife on Jan. 18. Investigators found Howerton's fingerprint on the note, and the victim identified him from a photo lineup, according to an affidavit. In the note, Howerton said he would shove the knife into the victim's chest if she didn't comply with his demands for money, the affidavit said. He left the restaurant with a small amount of money, according to the Jackson County District Attorney's Office. Court-appointed defense attorney Christine Herbert said she had a doctor examine Howerton, and the doctor found he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression. Herbert said he also had a substance-abuse problem, primarily with alcohol. She said Howerton was feeling hopeless and considering suicide at the time he robbed the Golden Wok. "Unfortunately, you took this course when you should have sought treatment," Jackson County Circuit Judge Lorenzo Mejia told Howerton before handing down the prison sentence of five years and 10 months in response to Howerton's guilty plea to second-degree robbery. Howerton wrote a letter to the victim in which he said he was "deeply sorrowful for the awful thing I did." Staff reporter Vickie Aldous can be reached at 541-776-4486 or [email protected] . Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/VickieAldous .     http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20150904/NEWS/150909772 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->