Chicago Man Sentenced To 125 Months For Two Bank Robberies In Florence, KY

COVINGTON, KY - A Chicago man, who has several prior criminal convictions, was sentenced to 125 months in federal prison for committing two bank robberies in Boone County.

U.S. District Judge David Bunning sentenced 49 year-old Bernard Beaver Russell on Thursday and placed him on supervised release for 3 years after he completes his prison term. Judge Bunning ordered the sentence to run consecutively to a previous state court sentence of 7 ½ years for driving a stolen car and engaging in a high-speed chase after committing the bank robberies.

Russell admitted to robbing a Huntington Bank branch and a Central Bank branch in Boone County on February 9, 2012.

Russell entered his guilty plea on February 28, 2013. Under federal law, he must serve at least 85 percent of his prison sentence.

Kerry B. Harvey, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Perrye Turner, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, jointly announced the sentence.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Boone County Sheriff’s Department. The U.S. Attorney’s Office was represented in the case by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Bracke.