Thomas Marttinen was sitting on the floor at a downtown bank's ATM, when a customer came in to withdraw $20 on Feb. 12.
He approached the person demanding money, and then said: "I have a knife and I know how to use it."
The 36-year-old then left with the victim's cash, a judge heard Wednesday.
On the same day, a bartender at Top Hat, another Queen Street East business, called 911.
A man had threatened an employee with a knife and attempted to steal some alcohol.
When the city police canine unit located Marttinen, he still had the knife, prosecutor Robert Skeggs said.
Marttinen pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery in connection with the incidents.
The crimes were among a number of offences he admitted committing when he appeared in a Sault Ste. Marie courtroom.
He was convicted of four counts of threatening, three counts of assault, and single counts of theft, criminal harassment and failing to comply with a release order.
On Aug. 5 of last year, Martinnen was causing problems at the TD bank on Bay Street, wandering between the financial institution and the Station Mall.
When he was approached by mall security guards, he spat in the faces of two of them, threatened to shoot them and kill their families, Skeggs said.
About a week later, on Aug. 13, he was at the Beer Store on Great Northern Road and was found hiding in nearby bushes.
Marttinen had an assortment of stolen cans of beer, valued at $100, Ontario Court Justice Melanie Dunn heard.
He threatened to stab a police officer in the neck, the Crown said.
On Oct. 20 of last year, the accused spat in the face of a man at the Soup Kitchen.
City police were called to the Station Mall, shortly after 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 28.
The cops were responding to a major disturbance involving a man, fighting and spitting on security officers.
He told a female officer, who he spat on numerous times, he was going to kill her.
At the time, Marttinen was on a court order prohibiting him from going to the Bay Street shopping centre.
Earlier this year, police received multiple calls about a man who was intimidating residents at an East Street building on Jan. 25 and was refusing to leave.
Marttinen said he was going to shoot people there, Skeggs told the court.
The Crown and defence lawyer Murdoch Carter jointly proposed his client receive an 18-month jail term, less credit for the time he has spent in pre-sentence custody, plus probation.
Marttinen has no prior record, but is now before the court with a collection of offences that include violence and robbery, Skeggs said.
His actions affected people because of their occupations at the mall, or who were trying to get $20 out of a downtown bank, or who are vulnerable, the prosecutor said.
Carter said a pre-sentence report details his client's early disadvantaged life and his struggles with mental health issues and substance abuse.
Marttinen is a person that others often took advantage of, he told Dunn.
The defence described the individual offences "as almost like nuisance charges," but they aren't nuisances to the people involved, he added, noting the $20 robbery involved a knife.
At the Top Hat, Marttinen wanted beer and fries, was "waving a knife around and ends up with a robbery charge," Carter said.
When she imposed the sentence, Dunn called it "within the range."
It takes into account the guilty pleas, which are an indication of remorse and save "precious court time."
Marttinen is a first-time offender, is transient, has housing issues and receives assistance from the Canadian Mental Health Association.
This "is a significant sentence that takes into account the safety of the public," the judge said.
With the enhanced credit Marttinen received for his pre-sentence incarceration, he faces a further four months behind bars.
He will be on probation for two years with a lengthy list of conditions.
Marttinen must stay away from the Station Mall, BMO on Queen Street, the Top Hat bar, and the Beer Store on Great Northern Road.
He can have no contact with the victims of his crimes.
Dunn also imposed a life-time weapons prohibition and ordered him to provide a DNA sample for analysis.
As well, the knives seized by police must be forfeited to the Crown.