An Athens man pleaded guilty yesterday to charges stemming from two bank robberies and will spend more than a decade in prison.
Garrett Bookman, 19, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated robbery, one count of receiving stolen property and one count of inducing panic as part of a plea agreement, and he will spend 11 years in prison.
The aggravated robbery charge stemmed from an incident in December 2009 when Bookman robbed the First National Bank in Glouster, Assistant Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn said.
Bookman was charged with receiving stolen property because he stole about $5,000 from a bank in Hocking County in 2010 and brought the money into Athens County. He also was convicted of a burglary charge in Hocking County from the incident, Blackburn said.
The inducing panic charge was the result of him holding a firearm to the door of a Hocking Valley Bank in Coolville in June 2010, Blackburn said.
As part of the agreement, Bookman will spend 11 years in prison and must forfeit two cars and about $5,000 to the state, Blackburn said.
Aggravated robbery is a first-degree felony, receiving stolen property is a fourth-degree felony and inducing panic is a fifth-degree felony.
Bookman could have spent a maximum of 12 years and six months in prison and paid a maximum fine of $27,500 if convicted of all charges at a trial, according to the Ohio Revised Code.
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