Friday, December 31, 1999
Robbery suspect repentant
'Good man' to admit he went astray
BY SHEILA McLAUGHLIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — A Kettering, Ohio, man accused of robbing a Springboro bank with his 3-year-old daughter in the getaway car apparently is willing to own up to his actions, his lawyer indicated Thursday.
“He's a good man. He knows he made a mistake and he knows he has to pay for it,” defense lawyer Carl Lewis said after Thomas Burroughs was arraigned in Warren County Court.
Mr. Burroughs, 29, was charged Wednesday with grand theft, robbery, child endangering, fleeing and eluding, and resisting arrest, a day after police said he robbed the Lebanon Citizens National Bank on West Central Avenue.
Judge James Heath set bail Thursday at $200,000 and will allow Mr. Burroughs' family to post 10 percent of it to gain his release. Mr. Lewis said he expects the computer business owner to be out of jail sometime next week.
Mr. Burroughs is due back in county court Tuesday for a preliminary hearing in which witnesses will testify about the robbery. A judge will determine whether there is enough evidence to send the case to a grand jury for possible indictment.
Police arrested Mr. Burroughs about 4:45 p.m. Tuesday after he crashed his maroon, late-model Buick into a van following a 30-minute pursuit through three counties.
Detectives said Mr. Burroughs' daughter, Joia, was strapped into her car seat in the rear seat during the bank robbery and the chase. The robbery suspect did not display a weapon, nor did he wear a disguise, police said.
Mr. Lewis, who considers himself a friend of Mr. Burroughs, said there were no signs that Mr. Burroughs, who never before committed a serious crime, would end up charged in a bank robbery.
“This is a fine, intelligent man. I'm shocked we're even here,” Mr. Lewis said.
Mr. Burroughs' mother, Karen Dorn of Kettering, told The Cincinnati Enquirer earlier this week that her son's personal life had fallen apart in recent months after his wife, who had a heart condition, died in May while awaiting a heart transplant.
He was left with a mound of unpaid bills from her medical care, a sense of overwhelming grief and the responsibility of raising their daughter alone, Mrs. Dorn said.
“It was their decision to have a child that led to her death,” Mr. Lewis said. “He suffered a great loss with the death of his wife. That has to be very trying to lose basically what was his soulmate.”
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