HENDERSON MAN SENTENCED FOR 2000 OWENSBORO BANK ROBBERY
– Sentenced to 14 years

David L. Huber, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, announced today that on January 12, 2007, SHERREL C. BROOKS, age 33, of Henderson, Kentucky, in Henderson County, was sentenced in United States District Court, Owensboro, Kentucky, for bank robbery.

Joseph H. McKinley, Jr., Judge, United States District Court, sentenced Brooks to 14 years imprisonment, plus 3 years supervised release following incarceration. There is no parole in the federal judicial system. Brooks was also ordered to repay the bank $9698.00 in restitution.

During his guilty plea hearing before Judge McKinley on October 2, 2006, Brooks admitted that on November 21, 2000, he robbed the Independence Bank branch located at 2465 West Parrish Avenue in Owensboro. Brooks brandished a weapon during the robbery and obtained $9,698.00 in cash belonging to the bank by emptying several teller drawers. Wearing a ski-type mask, Brooks entered the bank around 3:30 p.m. and yelled for everyone to get down. He dropped the mask when rushing out of the bank. When he was later developed as a suspect by the FBI, there was a DNA match to Brooks from the dropped mask.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas W. Dyke and was investigated by the Owensboro Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

- END -