A Juneau judge sentenced a man who robbed Northrim Bank last year to serve three years in prison for carrying out a crime in an unnecessarily cruel manner.
Larry Randolph Powell, 53, pleaded guilty in January to robbing the Mendenhall Valley bank last April, and in exchange for his guilty plea, the prosecution dismissed two other charges — terroristic threatening and theft.
Prosecutors said Powell handed a bank teller a note that said he had a bomb in his backpack, that he knew the teller’s family and that she needed to give him the money in the drawer. Judge Philip Pallenberg handed down a six-year sentence on May 5, with three years to be suspended.
“That was a cruel thing to do, I think, and unnecessary,” Pallenberg said. The level of intimate fear the note carried took the crime to another level when “this is a stickup” would have sufficed, Pallenberg said.
[Juneau police arrest man who allegedly robbed Northrim Bank branch with bomb threat.]
Powell told the judge he was willing to accept any judgement that came his way and that he felt for “any sorrow that is on the young lady (whom he handed the note to) and her family,” calling the moment one of “unconscionable stupidity.”
Pallenberg said he would have liked to have taken more information into account during the sentencing, but hinted that the defense should have submitted letters from Powell’s family and employers back in his home state of Alabama. The sentence will hopefully serve as a deterrent to others considering a similar crime, Pallenberg said.
“People that work in banks should be able to feel safe in their employment and not feel like someone’s going to come in and put them at risk,” Pallenberg said.
Powell, who was new to Alaska and homeless when he committed the robbery, said he was only trying to provide for himself and his loved ones, and he now feels a great deal of shame for the choice he made. He plans to spend his time in prison working on a degree to become a writer, then he said he hopes to return to Alabama.
[Alleged Northrim bank bandit shops, shaves with stolen money.]
Powell’s sentence also includes five years of probation, which Pallenberg said he would not be opposed to shortening in the future considering this was Powell’s first criminal offense in Alaska.
Ketchikan woman falsified multiple PFD forms, state says
A Ketchikan mother has been charged with Permanent Fund Dividend fraud by a Juneau grand jury.
The grand jury in April indicted Amanda Lynn Ralph, 36, on 13 felonies for allegedly not qualifying for her share of the state’s oil wealth money, yet still receiving the checks for herself and her three children.
Ralph is facing eight charges of falsifying PFD forms, four charges for collecting PFD checks and a separate charge for collecting state unemployment insurance in Alaska. Those are all class C felonies, which can be punishable by up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $50,000.
According to the charging court documents, the state of Alaska’s Revenue Criminal Investigations Unit discovered the family was living outside of the state for unreported extended periods of time, not the full calendar year, making her and her children ineligible for the money.
Ralph claimed to have lived in Ketchikan with her three children in 2014 and 2015 without any absences, according to an affidavit filed March 18 by Assistant Attorney General Lisa C. Kelley. CIU’s investigation revealed Ralph and her children were out of state, possibly in Washington, for periods greater than 90 and 180 days, according to the affidavit.
The four PFDs Ralph applied for and collected in 2014 totalled $7,536. The affidavit does not state whether or not Ralph received the PFDs she applied for in March 2015, and she was not charged for those thefts. Ralph also received $6,866 worth of unemployment insurance benefits between December 2013 and April 2014, according to the affidavit.
Ralph is scheduled to stand trial in Juneau Superior Court on July 25 before Judge Louis Menendez.
• Contact reporter Paula Ann Solis at 523-2272 or paula.solis@juneauempire.com.
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