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Bank robber gets 12 years
BY JAMES JACENICH • STAFF WRITER
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MONTEREY - Tommy Lee Brewer of Durbin, W.Va. was sentenced Friday in Highland County Circuit Court to 23 years in prison for the Oct. 6, 2006 armed robbery of the Blue Grass Valley Bank in Blue Grass. Judge Thomas H. Wood suspended 11 years of the sentence.
Wood could have sentenced Brewer to two life terms plus three years. But Brewer admitted he robbed the bank and his testimony helped convict one of his associates and the other one guilty. In addition, Brewer gave the Highland County Sheriff's Office leads and tips concerning other criminal activities in the region.
"I don't do this very often," said commonwealth's attorney John Lohr. "Brewer has been cooperative and has helped in the conviction of his associates." Sheriff Herbert Lightner testified Brewer cooperated with the sheriff's investigation and his testimony helped with other criminal investigations in Highland, Augusta County and Roanoke.
Brewer was indicted by a grand jury March 20 and pleaded guilty June 19 to charges of feloniously, while armed with a deadly weapon, entering a banking house with intent to commit larceny of money, bonds, notes and other evidence of debt; feloniously robbing the Blue Grass Valley Bank putting a person or persons in fear of serious bodily harm by presenting a firearm; and feloniously using or displaying in a threatening manner a firearm (pistol) while committing a robbery.
At his sentencing, Brewer testified childhood abuse contributed to his abuse of drugs and alcohol and criminal behavior as an adult. "There were six or seven of us at home," he said. "It was rough, there was no money." He said he suffered from physical, sexual and verbal abuse from the age of eight to 14. He stopped going to school after ninth grade and left home when he was 16. "I was tired of the abuse, fighting and everything," said Brewer. He drifted from one job to the next, he said. He worked in logging and carpentry in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Ohio.
He was married and has one daughter, age 10. His daughter is living with his ex-wife in West Virginia, but she was in his custody before the bank robbery.
Lightner said Brewer told him he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Lightner said Brewer told him about the bank robbery, implicated Brewer's sister Sandy Moyers and her husband, Carroll "Bill" Hinkle Jr., and his nephew, Dustin Turner.
"What he told me matched what the investigation revealed," said Lightner.
"The night before the robbery I was drinking and partying with my sister and brother-in-law," said Brewer. "They mentioned they needed money for a late payment. She asked if I could rob the bank. I said, 'Yeah.' Sandy brought it up first."
Brewer said Hinkle went along with it.
"I was pretty messed up at the time - Xanax, painkillers, marijuana and alcohol," said Brewer. "For a two-week period I took about 120 mg of Xanax. That night (before the robbery) I took 20 mg. I wasn't thinking clearly."
Brewer's attorney, Linda Royster said, "Brewer was messed up. He didn't know what he was doing. He needs time off drugs. No matter how long he spends in prison, he can never return to this town. He gave up his family. Mr. Brewer was suckered by his sister. He was talked into this crime so his sister wouldn't lose the farm. (Bank robbery) is a serious crime and not the right thing to do. But even a minimum sentence is way too much. Reward him for what he did do. Give him half the minimum sentence."
Lohr reminded the judge that voluntary intoxication is no defense; Moyers may have suggested the crime, but she did not rob the bank; and the fact that she was not punished for her part in the crime is irrelevant. Lohr also reminded the judge that Brewer stole a truck the day before the robbery and believes Brewer came to Highland County with the intention of robbing the bank.
"Did Sandy and Bill have influence on you?" asked Royster.
"I think so," Brewer said. "The next morning I was drinking and taking Xanax. She (Moyers) came out and said, 'The bank is open now. If you are going to do it, then go and do it.' I drank what little bit of liquor I had and took some pills that I had, and done it."
After the robbery, Brewer said he went back to his sister's house and gave $2,000 to Hinkle.
"The rest I blew on drugs, a car, and a plane ticket," he said.
Brewer insisted he planned two weeks earlier to go to Colorado so his daughter could see his brother.
Brewer said he has contact only with one sister from Mt. Solon and received one letter from his daughter. He said he is estranged from the rest of his family.
Royster said Brewer turned himself in Colorado, a point not disputed by Lohr. Brewer was arrested in Colorado on a national felony warrant and waived extradition. Highland County deputies escorted him to Virginia.
Royster said Brewer was a good parent, who was taking his daughter to Colorado to visit his brother. She said his ex-wife, who has custody of his daughter, had served time in jail on drug charges.
Brewer said his sister told him to rob the bank and that he would not have done it except at her insistence and only then to help her out of a financial problem. That seemed to persuade the judge, who sentenced Brewer to the mandatory three-year term for possession of a firearm to run consecutively with two concurrent 20-year terms for the other felonies, giving Brewer a total possible prison sentence of 23 years. The judge took off 11 years for probation, netting Brewer 12 years in the penitentiary.
Brewer said, "I am sorry to the commonwealth for my actions. That's about it, your honor."
He has been in custody in Middle River Regional Jail since returning to Virginia last November.
The sheriff's office eventually arrested and charged three other people as accessories either before or after the crime. Moyers was not prosecuted due to a clause in the law that excused immediate family from being charged as an accessory after the fact. Hinkle was found guilty and is awaiting sentencing. Turner was found guilty in district court and sentenced to one year in jail.
Judge Wood complimented bank employees on acting appropriately during the robbery. "This is a serious business," said Wood. "You just never know what was going to happen. The bank workers did the right thing (by not resisting).
"Brewer could receive two life sentences. I don't believe that is appropriate," he explained.
He then sentenced Brewer to the 12 years. Brewer can appeal the judge's decision to the Virginia Court of Appeals.
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