By David Eck
Enquirer contributor

HAMILTON - John Clayton Wedge will be getting another ride soon. This time, to prison.

The Hamilton man who unwittingly asked two police officers for a ride home after he robbed a bank was sentenced Friday to a total of seven years for two bank robberies. Wedge, 40, was also ordered to repay $850 to U.S. Bank and $460 to Fifth Third bank. He will be on parole for three years after release.

Wedge, dressed in a prison jump suit with his feet shackled, remained silent as Butler County Common Pleas Judge H.J. Bresslersentenced him.

About four hours after robbing a Fifth Third branch in the Liberty Township Kroger store on April 2, Wedge, covered in mud, approached the Hamilton Shrine Club and asked two people for a ride. The two turned out to be police officers who had attended a Fraternal Order of Police meeting.

Wedge claimed he had been robbed. Although deputies were unaware of the robbery, they were suspicious of Wedge's story and his disheveled appearance.

A police search had forced Wedge to hide in the Great Miami River for four hours.

Wedge was also accused of robbing a U.S. Bank branch in Hamilton days before.

"I have no doubt that you inflicted serious emotional harm on all the tellers who were there," Judge Bressler said.

Wedge has served a total of 15 years in prison during three prison terms since 1984 for aggravated burglary, breaking and entering, possession of criminal tools and assault, Ohio records show.

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E-mail daveck@fuse.net