Richard PattonA federal judge sentenced a Tuscaloosa man to 41 years in prison for armed robberies of two credit unions in 2011 and
for escaping custody in December 2011, U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance announced on Wednesday.
Richard Patton, 22, pleaded guilty
before U.S. District Judge Abdul Kallon to two counts of armed robbery
and one count of using a firearm during a crime of violence, stemming
from the Feb. 1, 2011, hold-up of the Tuscaloosa
County Credit Union and the April 20, 2011, robbery of the Alabama
Central Credit Union in Tuscaloosa.
Kallon sentenced
Patton to the 41 years in prison and ordered him to pay $58,000 in
restitution. Patton will be supervised for an additional five years upon
his release from custody.
Patton's admissions
Wednesday were part of a consolidated plea agreement that included a
third case, charging him for escaping from the Cullman County Detention
Center on Dec. 2, 2011, while incarcerated as
a federal prisoner. Patton had previously pleaded guilty to the escape,
but had not been sentenced.
The 41-year sentence
also incorporated Patton's earlier sentence for a third armed robbery,
which occurred April 26, 2011, at the Tuscaloosa Credit Union in
Northport, with some of the sentences imposed Wednesday
running concurrently and others running consecutively to that 13 and a half years
sentence.
From the office of United States Attorney Joyce White Vance
