Thursday, October 10, 2002
The robber was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A 26-year-old city man has pleaded guilty for his part in the robbery of the Seven Seventeen Credit Union in Hubbard Township.
Valdeoss Bender, of Warren, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one charge of aggravated robbery, four counts of kidnapping and one count of illegal possession of a weapon.
Police say Bender and three others robbed the credit union Feb. 4.
Moments after entering the guilty plea, Judge W. Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court sentenced Bender to 15 years in prison.
The judge said Bender should be taken from the county jail to Lorain Correctional Institution as soon as possible to begin serving his sentence.
Bender declined to comment.
Bender's co-defendants, Kenneth Tyler, 31, of Tod Avenue, Warren; Eric Rivers, 27, of Tod Avenue, Warren and Donald J. Tate, 38, of Warren are awaiting trial.
Tyler and Rivers were each indicted on a charge of aggravated robbery, four counts of kidnapping and one charge of illegal possession of a weapon.
Tate was indicted on one charge of aggravated robbery with a gun specification and four counts of kidnapping.
Hubbard Township police said three men -- two of them armed -- entered the credit union Feb. 4, shortly before 9:30 a.m. and took cash. They fled in a blue Lincoln Town Car before Hubbard Township police arrived and were captured after a 45-minute chase through a Howland neighborhood.
About five weeks after the robbery, police found the money in the 8400 block of Huntley Drive S.E.. Police said more than $13,000 was located.
sinkovich@vindy.com