AUBURN — A Lewiston man who was masked and armed with a knife outside a Lewiston restaurant he and others planned to rob in 2019 was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison.

Noah Breau

Noah Breau, 22, of 64 Oxford St., who had worked at Buddy T’s Pub and Restaurant, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery, a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Three years of his sentence were suspended, leaving one year for him to serve behind bars. His incarceration will be followed by three years on probation in keeping with a plea agreement with the District Attorney’s Office.

During probation, he’ll be barred from having alcohol, illegal drugs and marijuana (without a medical card) for which he can be searched and tested at random.

Breau also will be prohibited from having any dangerous weapons, including knives.

He won’t be allowed any contact with Virgil Taylor, the owner of Buddy T’s, and must stay away from the restaurant.

Taylor spoke at Wednesday’s hearing in Androscoggin County Superior Court.

He said the incident has caused him anxiety and forced him to take additional security measures over concerns about future robbery attempts.

Taylor said he hoped Breau wouldn’t seek revenge once he’s released from jail and learns from his conviction.

Defense attorney George Hess said his client has never expressed any anger toward the owner and has accepted responsibility for his actions.

“He really doesn’t have any excuses,’ he said of his client.

Hess said Breau graduated from high school and is employed.

Breau apologized to Taylor.

“I had no right to do all that,” he said. “He treated me good when I worked for him.”

Police were tipped off the night of Dec. 20, 2019, that a group had planned to rob Buddy T’s Pub and Restaurant at 675 Main St. in Lewiston.

An officer drove to the restaurant where he saw four people dressed in dark clothing and wearing face masks while standing next to an exterior door at the restaurant, according to court records.

A pat-down of the four men produced four knives, one on each of the suspects.

One of the men was a tipster who had given his boss at another restaurant information that led police to Buddy T’s that night. His boss at The Village Inn on High Street in Auburn had told him to go along with the other three to get information about the plan to rob Buddy T’s.

The same tipster told police after the four men were taken to the police station that one of the four had asked him earlier if he wanted to make $1,000 and told him about the robbery plan.

Breau had given the tipster a face mask, gloves and showed him a map of the layout at Buddy T’s, where Breau had worked.

While the group waited for the last of the customers to leave the restaurant, the tipster texted his boss to inform him of what was happening.

One of the four later told police that Breau had devised the robbery a month earlier. He said he was expected to “go for the safe with the owner. He stated that if the owner would not give them the code to the safe, they would go for the cash register.”

Breau told police the tipster was the one who came up with the robbery plan and had a map of the restaurant’s interior.