Bank robber gets 46-month sentence, apologizes

Jeron S. Mister, 35, of Fairview Heights, Illinois, was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison Tuesday by Judge Stephen Limbaugh for his role in a bank heist last year.

Mister already has served six months in custody, which will be considered served as part of his sentence.

Sentencing guidelines stipulated Mister could serve up to three years of probation. Limbaugh also mandated Mister submit to substance-abuse treatment.

Mister was charged with bank robbery by force or violence. On Sept. 2, he walked into The Bank of Missouri on William Street in Cape Girardeau, wrote “Give me the money” on a deposit slip and threatened the clerk before she handed over about $4,000.

Mister ran out of the bank with the money in his hands, dropping most of it outside the bank. When police apprehended him minutes later on Doctor’s Park Drive, he had only $280, which he claimed in court Tuesday was his money.

Bank clerk Michelle Wessell testified Tuesday that Mister said, “Hurry up or I’ll kill you” as she handed him the money.

Mister pleaded guilty to the charge Nov. 17.

The federal courtroom was packed with Mister’s friends and relatives. Limbaugh said he received several letters on Mister’s behalf that detailed his work history and good deeds within the community.

“I want to emphasize that I read all those letters,” Limbaugh said. “I don’t understand how you could have robbed a bank with all the good that you’ve done.”

Limbaugh said Mister’s lack of a previous criminal history was a factor in the sentence.

Mister had only one other felony conviction on a drug charge, for which he served probation.

“You really haven’t had any time in prison,” Limbaugh said.

Mister spoke and apologized to The Bank of Missouri and Cape Girardeau and said it was financial stress that led him to commit the robbery.

“I made a bad decision,” he said. “Honestly, I’m a good person. I let the financial strain get the best of me. I got a lot going on back home. I want to get back and prove myself to the community.”

When Mister spoke, several family members cried.

“This is a sad day because it is the day of reckoning,” Limbaugh said before stating the sentence. “You must have known when you robbed that bank that you would go to prison.”

bkleine@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3644

Pertinent address:

3427 William St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.