KERSHAW COUNTY, SC — A former Kmart assistant manager has been arrested in connection with robbing the store where he once worked, officials said.

Gregory Andrew Cason, 50, has been arrested in connection with the armed robbery of the Camden Kmart earlier this month, Kershaw County Sheriff Jim Matthews said Saturday.

Cason had been a person of interest earlier in the week after deputies suspected the former employee robbed the store at 2209 West Dekalb St. and made off with a large sum of cash.

Around 10 p.m. Feb. 14, a man entered the store with a knife, according to a CrimeStoppers press release. As two employees were passing by, the robber jumped out from under a stairwell and forced the employees to let him into the store’s “cash” room.

Once in the room, one of the employees was able to make the robber lose his balance, but the robber still was able to get away with a large amount of cash, the release stated.

Investigators discovered that the store’s closed-circuit television had been disabled minutes before the robbery, which led investigators to suspect Cason. Cason had been an assistant manager at the store until he resigned in May 2012, Matthews said.

Cason was picked up around 1:30 a.m. Friday after Richland County sheriff’s deputies found him sleeping in his car behind a gas station on Two Notch Road, department spokesman Deputy Curtis Wilson said Saturday.

The deputies had been called to the station on reports of a suspicious vehicle. Cason was found with an open container of alcohol and arrested on alcohol and loitering charges, Wilson said.

Kershaw County authorities were notified. Cason is being held at the Kershaw County Detention Center.

Mindy Lucas