By Cody Neuenschwander
Kokomo Tribune, Ind.
KOKOMO, Ind. — A Kokomo man who was found guilty by a jury in October of twice robbing BMO Harris Bank in Kokomo, 15 months apart, was sentenced last week to 32 years behind bars at the Indiana Department of Corrections.
Lance Pruitt, 32, was deemed a “dangerous individual” in the sentencing order from Howard Circuit Court Judge Lynn Murray filed Dec. 27, which detailed the sentences are to be “fully executed” with credit for time already served, and stated Pruitt has a history of offenses in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio.
“The court further considers that prior attempts to rehabilitate the defendant from past criminal behavior by probation, jail, and the department of corrections were not successful in deterring the defendant from committing the offenses in this case,” states the sentencing order.
According to a probable cause affidavit, officers were dispatched to BMO Harris Bank on Jan. 11, 2016, in reference to an armed robbery where the suspect pointed a handgun, ordered bank employees on the floor and made off with a pillow case full of cash.
Upon viewing surveillance footage, Kokomo Police Department investigators found the suspect to match the description of a bank robbery suspect at the same bank in 2014.
During the course of the investigation, investigators spoke with a person who claimed Pruitt had robbed the bank twice. They also found that Pruitt had purchased a 2007 Dodge Durango three days after the robbery.
A federal task force executed a search warrant at Pruitt’s mother’s residence and found receipts with Pruitt’s name from stores in Indianapolis that were dated the same day as the robbery.
The receipts coincided with details provided by the person interviewed by detectives, who said Pruitt showed him the money he stole and that they went shopping in Indianapolis afterward.
Pruitt was arrested on a warrant for two counts of armed robbery and two counts of criminal confinement, all level 3 felonies, in April 2016.
According to the sentencing order, Pruitt was on probation when the first robbery was committed, and was released from probation five days prior to the second robbery.
He was 18 when he was first arrested as an adult, and was handed his first conviction at the age of 21. Additionally, the court wrote that Pruitt has a history of committing dangerous acts with deadly weapons as evidence by a previous criminal recklessness conviction when Pruitt fired a gun into a “dwelling or gathering.”
The court additionally found that there were no mitigating factors in the case.
“The court finds and concludes that due to the aggravating circumstances the imposition of an aggravated sentence is appropriate,” states the sentencing order.
©2018 the Kokomo Tribune (Kokomo, Ind.)