‘Scarecrow Bandit' Gets 29 Life Sentences

Another "Scarecrow Bandit" has been sentenced to multiple life sentences without parole for a series of north Texas bank heists.

U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle ordered 43-year-old Charles Runnels to serve the 29 life sentences consecutively.

Runnels is the next-to-last "Scarecrow Bandit" to be sentences for a series of 2008 holdups in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. No sentencing date has been set for 43-year-old Tony R. Hewitt. Prosecutors say Hewitt and 29-year-old Corey Deyon Duffey were leaders of the gang. Duffey already has been sentenced to 354 years in prison.

Also sentenced previously were 32-year-old Antonyo Reece, sentenced to 140 years in federal prison, and 30-year-old Jarvis Dupree Ross, who received a 330-year prison sentence. None of the sentences do not carry the possibility of parole.

The group was called "Scarecrow Bandits" because of loose shirts and floppy hats worn during some robberies.

Copyright The Associated Press
Contact Us