Tuesday, February 29, 2000
Man may be spared jail term
5 years possible for bank theft
BY SHEILA McLAUGHLIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — A Dayton, Ohio, man who pleaded guilty in the December robbery of Springboro bank could be spared from prison when he is sentenced in late March, authorities said Monday.
Thomas Burroughs, who had his 3-year-old daughter strapped in the getaway car when he robbed the Lebanon Citizen's National Bank on Dec. 28, pleaded guilty Friday to charges of charges of grand theft, failure to comply with the order of a police officer, and child endangering.
The 29-year-old self-employed computer technician faces up to five years in prison. But James Beaton, a Warren County assistant prosecutor who handled the case, said a judge is not required to send him there.
“I don't think he has a prior felony record. Nobody was hurt. The (failure to comply) is what might put him in the hoosegow. But there is a presumption against prison for the theft. He can get probation,” Mr. Beaton said.
Prosecutors twice had taken the case to a grand jury in an attempt to obtain an indictment against Mr. Burroughs for robbery, a felony charge that would have assured him of prison.
Both times, the grand jury declined the charge, and instead handed up indictments on the other three crimes.
“The whole issue comes down to if there was an actual threat,” Mr. Beaton said.
“The thing was he didn't have any gun or weapon in his hand. He didn't come in and say "give me the money or I'll blow your brains out.'”
Authorities said Mr. Burroughs walked into the bank on West Central Avenue about 4:15 p.m. carrying a popcorn tin and demanded the teller to fill it with money. He made off with more than $7,000 — much of which he threw out of the car window during a 30-minute police chase.
The pursuit through three counties ended when Mr. Burroughs crashed his maroon Buick into a van on Ohio 675 in Beavercreek, a suburb of Dayton. His daughter, Joia, who was strapped into her car seat, was unharmed.
Mr. Burroughs' mother told The Cincinnati Enquirer she thought the recent death of her son's wife, a mound of medical bills left from her care and the pressures of raising a child alone might have contributed to her son's arrest.
From the beginning of the case, Mr. Burroughs' lawyer, Carl Lewis, had said he would seek a plea bargain in the case, hoping that his client could be spared incarceration to seek counseling for his personal troubles.
Mr. Lewis could not be reached Monday.
Mr. Burrough remained in jail on a $15,000 bond.
Mr. Beaton said there was no agreement made on sentencing. The plea was no bargain, he added.
“He pleaded as charged. We weren't going to dismiss anything in this case. The facts are egregious.
“I think he caught a break with the grand jury not indicting him for robbery,” he said.
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