Dale Walker Johnson Sentenced to 200 Months in Federal Prison for Robbery of Consumer Credit Union in Morristown

GREENEVILLE, TN—Dale Walker Johnson of Morristown, Tennessee, was sentenced on October 9, 2012, to serve 200 months in federal prison by the Honorable J. Ronnie Greer, U.S. District Judge, for his role in the April 2010 robbery of Consumer Credit Union in Morristown, Tennessee. Upon his release from prison, Johnson will serve five years on supervised release.

Other individuals involved with Johnson in this robbery were sentenced previously. Joseph Smallwood, 31, of Speedwell, Tennessee, admitted that he aided and abetted Johnson in the robbery of Consumer Credit Union and put in jeopardy the life of another person by the use of a firearm. He was sentenced to serve 90 months in prison. Jennifer Smallwood, 31, of Speedwell, Tennessee, pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact of bank robbery and was sentenced to serve 30 months in prison. Vanessa Patridge, 26, of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact of bank robbery and was sentenced to serve 21 months in prison. There is no parole in the federal system.

In April 2010, a male entered the Consumer Credit Union, on West Andrew Johnson Highway, Morristown, Tennessee, gave the teller a note demanding money and then showed her a gun in his waistband. When the teller gave him the money from her drawer, the robber put the money in his bag and left the bank. He left with another male driving a van. Joseph Smallwood and Johnson planned and committed the bank robbery. Both Jennifer Smallwood and Patridge admitted that they knew Joseph Smallwood and Johnson were planning to rob a financial institution and each provided support for them after the robbery.

The indictment and subsequent convictions of Johnson, Joseph Smallwood, Jennifer Smallwood, and Patridge were the results of an investigation conducted by the Morristown Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert M. Reeves represented the United States.

U.S. Attorney Bill Killian commended the Morristown Police Department and FBI for their investigation of this violent robbery. He noted that this robbery was related to the abuse of prescription drugs. “We continue to see an increase in violent crime committed by individuals trying to support an addiction to oxycodone and other opiates. Our office will continue to work with federal, state, and local officers to deal with this threat to our communities,” stated U.S. Attorney Killian.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a comprehensive national strategy that creates local partnerships with law enforcement agencies to effectively enforce existing gun laws. It provides more options to prosecutors, allowing them to utilize local, state, and federal laws to ensure that criminals who commit gun crime face tough sentences. PSN gives each federal district the flexibility it needs to focus on individual challenges that a specific community faces.