RALEIGH - United States Attorney George E. B. Holding announced that in federal court on February 12, 2008, United States District Judge James C. Dever, III, sentenced GEORGE ALEXANDER SPRINGER, 40, of Portsmouth, Virginia, to 300 months' imprisonment and ordered SPRINGER to pay restitution in the amount of $33,796.00 for armed bank robbery and use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, and aiding and abetting.
On April 16, 2007, SPRINGER was arrested in the Eastern District of Virginia after a Criminal Complaint had been filed in the Eastern District of North Carolina. A federal Grand Jury returned a Criminal Indictment on SPRINGER and his partner, Harvey Blackwell, Jr., on May 10, 2007. On October 22, 2007, SPRINGER entered his guilty plea to charges from both the Eastern District of North Carolina and the Eastern District of Virginia.

On January 23, 2007, SPRINGER and Blackwell, armed with a 9- millimeter handgun and .45 caliber handgun, robbed SunTrust Bank in Chester, Virginia, of $6,279.00. On January 30, 2007, SPRINGER and Blackwell robbed, while armed with 9 millimeter and .45 caliber handguns, the Wachovia Bank on Creedmoor Road, in Raleigh of $27,517.00.

Blackwell had previously been sentenced October 10, 2007.

"Mr. Springer has terrorized bank employees and customers and we must try to make him understand that this behavior will not be tolerated. This sentence, being just and fair, sends that message not only to him, but also to others that commit violent crimes," stated George Holding, United States Attorney.

Investigation of the case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Raleigh Police Department, and police departments in Virginia from Norfolk, Chester, Chesapeake, and Portsmouth. Assistant United States Attorney Jason Cowley served as prosecutor for the government.