SPOKANE -- Thanks to a new state law that targets violent kids with grown-up punishments a 16-year-old Spokane boy will be prosecuted as an adult for his alleged role in an armed robbery Tuesday morning.

Even though he is barely old enough to drive Richie Hill has given up any chance of getting a light sentence just because he's a minor. That’s because Hill allegedly used a loaded gun during a random armed robbery and now the court will treat him like any other adult.

On Thursday Spokane Major Crimes detectives gave Richie Hill the bad news and then walked him from the juvenile detention facility to the Spokane County Jail. Investigators say Hill was the trigger man in a sloppy armed robbery that targeted Spencer Clovis at Helena and Desmet as Clovis walked to work.

“Well I was walking down the street and the guy got out of the car and has the weapon pointed right as he's crossing the street and he told me to drop everything out of my pockets,” Clovis said.

The gunman took $72 in cash from Clovis and then fired the rifle.

“He just kind of pointed it up in the air and popped and they got in the car and that was it,” Clovis said.

While the suspects made their getaway Clovis memorized their license plate. He also found a cell phone that one of them was careless enough to drop. That phone led police to a home on Dell Drive where they waited for Hill and the other robbers to return.

“Some good investigative work led us here and we were able to locate the suspects at this location,” Spokane Police Officer Gordon Ennis said. Once in custody the suspects told detectives they had committed the robbery so they could afford to buy marijuana. Instead their young life of crime has been put on hold thanks to Clovis being a good witness.

“Bad guys are behind bars, the gun is recovered, they can't use it again to commit any other crimes,” Spokane Police Officer Jennifer Deruwe said.

Even if Hill has no prior criminal history he’s looking at three years in prison if convicted. However because he used a .22 caliber rifle during the crime he’s looking at an additional mandatory five more years.

In the course of this robbery that netted $72 Hill has pretty much sealed his fate until he’s 24.