Detroit man gets 34 years for robbing BG bank

6/3/2009

BOWLING GREEN A Detroit man was found guilty Wednesday of robbing the Fifth Third Bank branch on North Main Street then fleeing in a bank employee s car.

William D. Brown, Jr., 38, was convicted in Wood County Common Pleas Court of three counts of kidnapping and one count each of aggravated robbery, robbery, failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer, theft, theft of a motor vehicle, and a repeat violent-offender specification.

Common Pleas Judge Reeve Kelsey, who rendered the verdict Wednesday afternoon following a two-day trial, sentenced Brown to 34 years in prison.

Claiming he had a gun and threatening employees, Brown robbed the bank July 24, 2008. He was arrested a short while later by Bowling Green police following a brief pursuit that ended when he crashed the stolen car while attempting to turn off State Rt. 582 onto Hull Prairie Road just east of Haskins.