FARMINGTON, Mo. – It’s a hefty price for a pastry: A man accused of stealing a 52-cent doughnut could face time in jail.

Authorities said Scott A. Masters, 41, slipped the doughnut into his sweat shirt without paying, then pushed away a clerk who tried to stop him as he fled.

The push is being treated as minor assault, which transforms a misdemeanor shoplifting charge to a strong-armed robbery with a potential prison term of five to 15 years. Because he has a criminal history, prosecutors say they could seek 30 years.

“Strong-arm robbery? Over a doughnut? That’s impossible,” Masters told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He admitted to taking the pastry but denied touching the employee. “There’s no way I would’ve pushed a woman over a doughnut.”

Farmington Police Chief Rick Baker said state law treats the shoplifting and assault as forcibly stealing property. The amount of force and value of the property doesn’t matter.

“It’s not the doughnut,” Baker said. “It’s the assault.”

Masters said he didn’t even get to enjoy his gains: He threw the doughnut away as he fled.

Sheriff withdraws offer to wed lovebirds on the lam

LAPEER, Michigan – A Michigan sheriff who said he would wed a pair of bank robbery suspects in jail if they surrendered withdrew the offer after they were arrested in Cheyenne, Wyo.

Harold Holt and Elizabeth Bruman, both 24, were arrested Friday on warrants charging them with armed robbery in the Sept. 18 robbery of a bank.

Sheriff Ron Kalanquin held a news conference last week at which he offered to marry the fugitives in jail if they surrendered before they attempted another robbery.

“That offer is off the table, since they did not surrender,” Parks said Sunday night.

Holt and Bruman were being held in a Wyoming jail pending extradition to Michigan, a process that could take at least a week, Parks said.

From Associated Press reports