Friday, June 25, 2010
Ashland Man Pleads Guilty To Armed Robbery
KENTUCKY...
A 38-year-old man from Ashland, Kentucky has pleaded guilty to armed robbery charges in five banks from Georgia to Michigan. Prosecutors say Anthony Ray "Tony" Artrip began the crime spree after his June 2007 escape from the Grant County Detention Center in Kentucky. They say he robbed banks in Calhoun, Ga.; Mt. Airy, N.C.; Princeton, W.Va.; Marmet, W.Va.; and Frenchtown Township, Mich. Authorities say he was finally arrested in a Pittsburgh hotel in October 2007 after crawling into an air vent to try to escape. Artrip was sentenced to a "Super Max" prison in Colorado but escaped from a North Carolina jail in 2009 while being transferred to different counties to face state robbery charges. U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates says Tuesday the guilty plea "puts an end to the career of a man who unabashedly made his way across half of the United States robbing banks, victimizing citizens, and escaping justice." He could face life in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 27.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 7:19 AM 
