Charles Hunter sentenced to 15 years for 2014 Chase Bank robbery
RICHMOND, Ind. — The man who robbed a Richmond bank in 2014 received a 15-year sentence Thursday; however, he won't spend any additional time incarcerated.
That's because Charles D. Hunter III, 34, already is serving 46 years from two Tippecanoe County sentences. Judge Gregory Horn ordered Hunter serve his Wayne County sentence concurrently with the Tippecanoe County sentences as stipulated in the plea agreement Hunter reached with the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office.
According to Indiana Department of Correction records, Hunter will serve a 35-year sentence for dealing drugs until March 28, 2031, then will serve an 11-year sentence for robbery and criminal confinement until June 28, 2039. Hunter has previously been an Indiana State Prison inmate in Michigan City, but he's been in Wayne County's jail since April 5.
With maximum good-time credit, Hunter would serve 11 years and three months of his Wayne County sentence. Horn credited Hunter on Thursday with 1,724 days served and 575 good-time days. The 1,724 days is nearly four years and nine months already served, leaving Hunter about six years and six months in prison, which is less than he has remaining on his 35-year Tippecanoe County sentence.
Hunter pleaded guilty Oct. 6 to armed robbery and two criminal confinement counts, all as Level 3 felonies, related to the Aug. 30, 2014, robbery of the Chase Bank branch at 2 N.W. 18th St. He received advisory nine-year sentences for all three; however, the armed robbery sentence was enhanced by six years because of aggravating circumstances, Horn said.
Richmond Police Department connected Hunter to the Chase Bank robbery when the FBI notified RPD about similar robberies in Lafayette, according to an affidavit of probable cause. Local investigators learned that a GPS tracker had been placed on a silver Jeep registered to Hunter.
The GPS showed Hunter's Jeep circled the area of the bank, parked in a nearby alley and left the alley 3 minutes after the robbery alarm sounded. Witnesses had seen the two men involved in the bank robbery leave the bank, get into a silver Jeep in an alley and drive away.
The plea agreement also dismisses a case that charged Hunter with attempted murder (a Level 1 felony) and two counts of criminal confinement while armed with a deadly weapon (Level 3 felonies) related to the June 17, 2014, shooting of a Richmond woman. Hunter's defense attorney, Stephen Hunyadi, said during Thursday's hearing that case against Hunter was weak.
Hunter did not become a suspect in the shooting until a Lafayette co-defendant of Hunter's implicated him. The co-defendant said Hunter told him about the shooting, which allegedly resulted when an attempted hit on the woman's then-boyfriend failed.
This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Charles Hunter sentenced to 15 years for 2014 Chase Bank robbery
