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Grandma pleads guilty to bank robbery
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
HAMILTON — An elderly woman who is a suspect in several area bank robberies pleaded guilty this morning, Dec. 30, to robbery for holding up a Middletown bank on March 11.
The accused "granny robber," Barbara Joly, 68, of Victoria Drive, entered the plea to robbery, a third-degree felony, before Butler County Common Pleas Judge Charles Pater, who set her sentencing date for 8:30 a.m. Feb. 11.
She faces up to five years in prison, but has no prior criminal record and has made restitution of $1,000, according to her attorney Christopher Atkins. Those mitigating factors may allow her to receive community control.
Joly robbed the Community National Bank, 316 Breiel Blvd., by passing a note to a teller that said, "You are being watched by a gun, give me money," according to the facts of the case read in court by assistant Butler County prosecutor David Kash.
Because of the threat of violence in the note, Joly could have been charged with a first-degree felony, according to Atkins.
Joly was released on her own recognizance and left the courtroom with her husband Bill. They had no comment.
Joly also faces an aggravated robbery charge in Warren County for the Nov. 21 at the Huntington Bank in Franklin. She is free in that county on a $100,000 bond. She's also a suspect in robberies in Mason and Lebanon. Investigations are still pending in both of those cases.
