4 years for robber who waited for police

NEWARK - A Newark man who admitted to robbing a bank and waiting for police to arrive was sentenced to four years in prison Monday.

Billy W. White, 58, last known address 192 Mount Vernon Road, entered a guilty plea to one count of aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony, before Judge Thomas Marcelain Monday morning.

Assistant Licking County Prosecutor Chris Reamer said White went into the Heartland Bank on West Locust Street on Aug. 10 with a large knife and demanded money from a teller.

The teller and several other bank employees asked White if he was serious before handing him $2 in a plastic bag.

Reamer said White left the bank, put down the knife and money and calmly waited for Newark police officers to arrive on scene. White told officers he had robbed the bank because he was frustrated with issues in his personal life and felt it was best he went to prison.

White's attorney, Robin Green, said a bad domestic situation clouded White's judgment and prompted him to make the decision to rob the bank.

Green also said White's demeanor while inside the bank struck the employees there as odd, which caused several of them to ask White how serious he was.

Reamer requested Marcelain impose a five-year prison sentence.

Marcelain elected to sentence White to four years in prison and ordered him to pay all court costs and fees.

White faced a maximum of 11 years behind bars.