A federal judge sentenced a Huntsville man to more than 38
years in prison for three separate bank
robberies from two years ago in North Alabama, according to a release from U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and FBI Acting
Special Agent in Charge Robert E. Haley III.
U.S.
District Judge Karon O. Bowdre sentenced 35-yea-old Tavares Antwan Oliver to
461 months in prison on two counts of armed bank robbery, two counts of
brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence
and one count of bank robbery. Oliver pleaded guilty to those charges in
May.
He admitted robbing CB&S Bank on University Drive in
Huntsville on Sept. 29, 2010, Bancorp South on Hughes Road in
Madison on Oct. 25, 2010 and brandishing a firearm during both
of those robberies. He also admitted robbing Peoples Bank on Beltline
Road in Decatur on Dec. 8, 2010.
"Getting
violent criminals off of our streets is a top priority," Vance said.
"That is what today's sentence does for the next 38 years."
The
government's sentencing memorandum, citing facts acknowledged in
Oliver's plea agreement and his presentence
report prepared by the U.S. Probation Office, described Oliver as a drug
abuser, a dead-beat dad and a thief who has gang affiliation and is
dangerous and frequently armed. Prosecutors recommended the 461-month
sentence as appropriate and justifiable in Oliver's
case.
Two other men have been convicted and sentenced in connection to the 2010 North Alabama bank robberies -- Ronald Lewis Henderson, 26, and Anthony Shawn Clark, 23.
Hendereson received six years and three months in prison in March for the robberies at CB&S Bank and Peoples Bank.
Clark was sentenced to four years and 10 months in prison in 2010 for the robbery of Bancorp South in Madison, Ala.
The FBI,
along with Decatur, Madison and Huntsville police, investigated the bank
robberies. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Stuart Burrell prosecuted the
cases.
Tavares Antwan Odom, 35 (Madison Police)
