ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 19, 1995 TAG: 9512190055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
A man who decided to clean himself up in a drug rehabilitation program after robbing a Roanoke bank while "insane" on crack asked a federal judge Monday for a lighter sentence so he could continue his therapy.
Instead, Roosevelt Hairston Jr. was sentenced to 30 months, as required by sentencing guidelines. But he will be housed at a prison as close as possible to his "sponsor" and support group in New York.
Hairston, 35, took the stand at his sentencing hearing to describe his experience after robbing the First Union branch on U.S. 460 in Northeast Roanoke in March 1994. He spent about $900 of the money on crack to satisfy his quarter-ounce-a-day habit before leaving a week later for New York City.
There, he soon checked himself into a Veterans Administration medical center and successfully completed two rehab programs. He was into the third week of a job-training program when the FBI tracked him down in June 1995 and brought him back to Roanoke.
"I take full responsibility" for the robbery, said Hairston, who pleaded guilty. "That person who went in and robbed that bank is not the person sitting here today."
Hairston, who lived in Roanoke at the time of the robbery, said that when he was addicted to crack cocaine and alcohol, he would do anything to get money to support his habit, which cost him $250 a day. He got the idea from television of writing a note saying he had a gun and giving it to a bank teller, he said.
"It was like I was insane - insanity led me to rob the bank," Hairston said.
His attorney, Rick Buchanan, argued that Hairston should get less than the 30 months set by federal sentencing guideline because there was no violence involved - he didn't actually have a gun - and that the robbery was more like a grand larceny.
Buchanan said he was "aiming at putting him back on the street as quickly as possible so he can continue his recovery."
Hairston wants to return to a therapeutic community when he gets out. His psychiatrist told his probation officer that Hairston was a good candidate for successfully beating his addiction.
U.S. District Judge Samuel Wilson said he could not go below the sentencing guidelines, but had taken Hairston's voluntary rehabilitation into consideration.
"It does seem you have attempted to deal with your drug addiction and I'll give you some credit for that," Wilson told him. "You've shown some enthusiasm [for your treatment], which is a whole lot more than I see from some defendants."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Peters said Hairston also had stolen from a friend and from his mother to feed his addiction, so the robbery was not his first crime. Peters also said the bank lost $3,859 in the robbery, although Hairston has insisted since pleading guilty that he got only $2,300.
Besides the two and a half years in prison, Hairston must pay $3,859 in restitution to the bank and a $500 fine.
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