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Valentine’s bank robber gets 31 months

  • June 25, 2011 at 3:48 pm

WENATCHEE — WENATCHEE — The man who robbed a downtown bank on Valentine’s Day pleaded guilty to the crime Monday and earned a 31-month prison sentence.

“I believe I just had a breakdown,” Joshua B. Hurt, 24, told Chelan County Superior Court Judge T.W. “Chip” Small as he admitted holding up the Bank of America branch at 830 N. Wenatchee Ave.

Hurt entered the bank wearing a black ski mask in the Feb. 14 robbery, and was handed $6,101 in cash. He fled on foot with the money in a backpack, and was followed by a witness, who called 911 with a description of the robber.

Police spotted Hurt entering Godfather’s Pizza, 1014 N. Wenatchee Ave., where they arrested him in the bathroom. He was carrying a knife, the bank’s cash in a backpack and a black balaclava.

In his statement to the court, Hurt apologized to “the communities of the Wenatchee Valley, as well as the employees of the bank.” Hurt has been jailed since his arrest, and his lawyer Jeremy Ford said Hurt attended regular Bible study while incarcerated and was baptized Sunday as a born-again Christian.

Ford said Hurt was desperate for money to support his girlfriend and 3-year-old son, wrestling with depression and alcohol abuse, and seeking state treatment for his ills when he committed the robbery. Hurt’s family history includes child molestation and drug addiction on the part of his parents, Ford said.

Hurt was eligible for 31 to 41 months in prison for the robbery. He has no outstanding criminal record barring a third-degree malicious mischief conviction and a few traffic offenses, said Chelan County Prosecutor Gary Riesen. despite dropping a weapon enhancement that would have increased Hurt’s potential sentence, Riesen asked for the maximum 41-month term.

“It’s a bad situation for him, but clearly a bad situation for the people involved,” Riesen said, referring to the bank’s employees. “Every clerk at a 7-Eleven or at a bank, this is what they fear most.”

Small said the 31-month sentence was in line with similar robberies, including the holdup at gunpoint of Leavenworth’s Village Pharmacy in 2005. The robber in that case, Christopher G. Berte of Enumclaw, also received 31 months.

“It is clear that you have other issues that need to be addressed,” Small told Hurt, “and adding another 10 months to the bottom of the range is not going to help you address those issues.”

Jefferson Robbins: 664-7123

robbins@wenatcheeworld.com

Valentine’s bank robber gets 31 months

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