Bank robbery nets jail term for man also facing murder charges in West End shooting
A Hagerstown man facing charges in a March 17 shooting death was ordered Tuesday to serve 18 months in jail in a separate bank robbery case from three years ago.
Berquan Howard Carroll, 23, apologized for the Jan. 11, 2019, robbery of the M&T Bank at 32 N. Potomac St. in Hagerstown during his sentencing hearing in Washington County Circuit Court.
The robber had handed the teller a note which read, "20k NOW! No Dye or Trackers! I HAVE A GUN Play Safe," according to the charging document filed against him.
"I'm sorry to the victim, and I'm sorry to the bank," he said.
Judge Andrew F. Wilkinson noted that while no one was physically injured during the robbery, fear does harm the people involved.
"This matter was a serious crime," he said.
Carroll had entered an Alford plea Dec. 14 to one count each of second-degree assault and theft, court records show. An Alford plea is not an admission of guilt, but an acknowledgment by a defendant that the state has sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction.
Wilkinson sentenced Carroll to 10 years in prison on the assault charge with all but 18 months suspended to be served in the Washington County Detention Center. He imposed a six-month jail term on the theft charge to be served concurrently.
Wilkinson also placed Carroll on five years supervised probation upon his release, ordered him not to enter any M&T Bank in Washington County and to pay the bank $687 restitution.
Earlier: Man charged with Hagerstown bank robbery
More: Three face murder charges in death of Hagerstown man shot from car
Carroll is also one of three people charged with first-degree murder and other offenses in the March 17 shooting death of Jermaine Reed II, 27, of Hagerstown, who was found with multiple gunshot wounds on a sidewalk near Alexander and Dale streets in the city. Reed was taken to Meritus Medical Center east of Hagerstown where he died, Hagerstown Police said in charging documents filed against the three.
Also charged are Kevin Dwayne Nunn, 27, of Walkersville, Md.; and Bradley Nathan Walker, 23, of Clear Spring, court records show.
Following preliminary hearings for each of the three men, probable cause was found for their cases to be heard in circuit court. Each was being held without bail, court records show.
Detectives reviewing video from the city's network of surveillance cameras saw Reed sitting in his vehicle parked on Alexander Street when a Honda Accord pulled up next to him and two people in the back seat leaned out of the windows on both sides and began firing handguns at him and his vehicle, charging documents state. Reed got out of his vehicle and ran north on the sidewalk of Alexander Street while the shooters continued firing multiple rounds at him. He collapsed on the sidewalk, the documents state.
Police later found the Honda unoccupied in a parking lot behind a South Potomac Street address. Surveillance video showed that, prior to the shooting, four people had gotten into the Honda there from Nunn's Lincoln MKZ and Walker's Chevrolet Malibu, which were parked next to it. Video shows the Honda traveling to the scene of the shooting and then returning to where it was found after one of its occupants got out behind a nearby home, the documents state.
One of the remaining three people in the Honda got out of the car and into Nunn's car, and the other two got into Walker's car before they all drove away, according to the charging documents.
The documents state that a witness identified the person who was dropped off, but Herald-Mail Media is not naming them because a search of court records Thursday afternoon did not reveal any charges against anyone with that name.
That person and Nunn are identified in the charging documents as the alleged gunmen. Shell casings found at the scene confirmed that two shooters used different caliber handguns, the documents state.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Man facing murder charges gets jail in separate bank robbery case
