October 8, 2014

Lafayette Man Sentenced to 240 Months in Prison After Pleading Guilty to Two Bank Robberies in Kentucky and Carjacking

BOWLING GREEN, KY—A Lafayette, Tennessee, man was sentenced today in United States District Court by Senior District Judge Thomas B. Russell to 240 months in prison followed by a three year period of supervised release and ordered to pay $90,800 in restitution, for the robbery of two banks located in Kentucky, and one-count carjacking in Adair County, Kentucky, announced David J. Hale, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky.

On July 9, 2014, Eugene Earl Gentry, age 63, pleaded guilty to four counts of a federal indictment including two counts of bank robbery through force, violence, and intimidation, one count of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence and one count of carjacking. Gentry admitted in court to robbing the United Citizens Bank, located at 1582 Campbellsville Road, in Columbia, Kentucky, of approximately $90,000 on October 15, 2012. On the same day, in Adair County, Kentucky, Gentry stole a 1998 Ford Ranger Pickup from United Citizens Bank manager and in doing so brandished a semi-automatic handgun which carries an additional charge of carjacking. One year later, on October 29, 2013, Gentry attempted to rob the Citizens Bank, located at 209 Campbellsville Bypass, located in Campbellsville, Kentucky. Gentry fled from the bank and was pursued by Campbellsville Police until his car crashed in to a parked 18-wheel style truck trailer loaded with logs. The loaded Hi-Point C9, 9mm semi-automatic pistol, found on Gentry at the crash scene was traced and came back as being sold to him in 2004.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Randy Ream and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with assistance from the Campbellsville Police Department, Columbia Police Department and the Adair County, Kentucky, Sheriff’s Department.