Friday, March 19, 2010

Serial Bank Robber Enters Pleas of Guilty

March 19, 2010 - LOUISVILLE, KY—Chad Schaffner, age 38, of Indianapolis, Indiana, pled guilty in U.S. District Court, Greenville, Tennessee, on March 17, 2010, to 11 counts of robbery which included nine (9) banks, one (1) credit union and one (1) retail store. Included in Schaffner’s pleas was a plea of guilty to the robbery of the River City Bank, 2443 Bardstown Road, Louisville, Kentucky on May 7, 2009. He also entered pleas to robberies in North Carolina, South Carolina, Indiana, Illinois and Tennessee, United States Attorney Candace G. Hill of the Western District of Kentucky announced today.

Schaffner admitted that he robbed River City Bank of $7,811 by brandishing a handgun in front of a teller and demanding cash. Schaffner was arrested in Oklahoma on September 12, 2009 and taken to Tennessee which had initiated the first formal robbery charge against him. He confessed to the Kentucky robbery and the additional robberies there. According to Schaffner, he threw the semi-automatic pistol he used in the River City Bank robbery into the Ohio River before getting back on I-64.

The maximum potential penalties are life imprisonment, a $2,750,000 fine, and supervised release for a period of 5 years.

The Kentucky case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Randy Ream, and it was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The plea was entered before Ronnie Greer, Judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, Greenville, Tennessee.

Schaffner is scheduled to be sentenced before Judge Greer on December 8, 2010, at 1:30 p.m., in Greenville, Tennessee. Judge Greer will decide whether to sentence Schaffner to the mandatory life sentence which will be advocated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

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