WEST DANVILLE, Vt. —  The man who held up a general store in Vermont was more than apologetic about it.

The owner of Joe's Pond Country Store in West Danville said the young man who held him up at knifepoint this week told him, "I'm very sorry I have to do this."

And when owner Jeff Downs asked the thief to leave behind the one-dollar bills so that the workers on the next shift would have something in the till, he agreed.

No arrests have been made, according to a state police spokesman. He said the robber may be someone who's "just desperate but isn't a career criminal."

The store owner lamented that money is scarce in the wrong places.

"Wall Street tycoons can't live on millions and here is this kid willing to be shot or go to jail for a couple of hundred bucks," said Downs. "Something is not right."