PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A man was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Multnomah County Friday after he was found guilty of breaking into two Portland businesses and stealing tens of thousands of dollars, the district attorney’s office said. 

Michael Lee Dizer, 65, was convicted of two counts of second-degree robbery, one count of first-degree aggravated theft and one count of first-degree theft. 

The charges are related to two incidents that occurred in September.

The first occurred on Sept. 5, 2021, when the district attorney’s office said Dizer broke into the Ambassador Restaurant & Lounge on Northeast Sandy Boulevard and threatened an employee with a replica handgun. 

The district attorney’s office said Dizer told the employee to fill bags with money from the restaurant’s safe and left with about $20,000 dollars. 

Two days later, on Sept. 7, 2021, the district attorney’s office said Dizer entered The New 715 Inn on Northeast Broadway Street and asked an employee for money for his Rip ticket. As the employee walked to the register, the district attorney’s office said Dizer pulled out a replica handgun and threatened her, telling her to give him the money from the register. 

The district attorney’s office said he told the employee, “This is not worth your life.” 

Dizer moved the employee away from the register and began stuffing the money inside the bank bag himself, the district attorney’s office said. He then told the employee to take money out of the slot machines and put them in the bag. 

According to the district attorney’s office, he left with $2,000 he had stolen. 

On Sept. 9, 2021, an employee from the Ambassador Restaurant & Lounge received an anonymous tip that Dizer had been the person who robbed the business days before. 

Investigators found surveillance video and learned that Dizer had made incriminating comments about the robberies to witnesses, which led to his arrest, the district attorney’s office said. 

“Small businesses in our community do not deserve to operate under threat. Mr. Dizer violated individual employees, simply doing their jobs, and stole significant revenue. His actions were violent, terrifying, and unacceptable. I am grateful to the jury for rendering justice and the judge’s sentence that followed,” Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Julian Samuels stated.