Melvin Lee Hooks was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for an Aug. 25, 2015, armed robbery of the Dunkin' Donuts on Poquonnock Road in Groton, a crime he says he doesn't remember committing because he was high on PCP and K2.

Hooks, 29, of Groton, had pleaded guilty in New London Superior Court to first-degree robbery with a deadly weapon. Though he used a .25 caliber pellet gun for the crime, Judge Hillary B. Strackbein told him his name would be added to the state's registry of deadly weapon offenders.

He has been incarcerated since he was arrested a short time after the robbery.

According to police, Hooks approached employees of the Dunkin' Donuts at 4:10 a.m. as they were preparing to open. He displayed the gun, demanded cash and fled on a bicycle with the money. A short time later, a Groton City officer found Hooks in the area of Thomas Road, but he fled again when police tried to make contact with him. City, town and state police set up a perimeter of the area and tracked him to his address, where they found the stolen money and the weapon. The police also recovered the bicycle during the search.

Hooks will be on special parole for seven years when he is released from prison.

"This is a serious matter, and the defendant has a serious record," said prosecutor Stephen M. Carney.

Hooks has numerous drug convictions, and his attorney, Bruce A. Sturman, said he would have to deal with his substance abuse issues or he would continue to disappoint his family and drive himself to an early grave.

Judge Strackbein, who had noted during an earlier case that just about every crime on the docket in the court that handles major crimes is the result of drug abuse, told Hooks, who had started smoking marijuana at 15 and PCP at 18, that he needs to get a job and have a good attitude.

"Be a role model for your children by leading a law-abiding, drug-free life," Strackbein said. "They're going to do what they see."

k.florin@theday.com