Recidivist Bank Robber Sentenced
| U.S. Attorney’s Office May 20, 2009 |
EUGENE, OR—Willie David Applewhite, 69, was sentenced by United States District Judge Michael R. Hogan on May 19, 2009, to serve a 151-month in prison for the robbery of the Washington Mutual Bank, West 11th Branch in Eugene, Oregon on March 17, 2008. Applewhite was also sentenced to an additional 24 months in prison, to be served consecutively to the robbery sentence, for violating his supervised release on a 1992 Oregon bank robbery conviction, resulting in a total sentence of 175 months imprisonment. Judge Hogan further ordered that Applewhite pay restitution for the robbery. When released from prison, Applewhite will be on supervision for three years.
Court records show that Applewhite pled guilty to bank robbery on March 3, 2009, admitting that on March 17, 2008, less than five months after having been released from prison for a prior bank robbery, Applewhite robbed the Washington Mutual Bank in Eugene, Oregon of $3,080 and fled the bank. He was arrested by Eugene police a short time after the robbery. Applewhite has prior robbery convictions from 1959, 1962, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984 and 1992.
The Eugene Resident Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Eugene Police Department successfully investigated the case. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Jeffrey S. Sweet.