Student Sentenced For Planned Robbery

A Washington State University student has been sentenced to two to eight years in prison for her planned robbery of a Lewiston bank in June.

But 2nd District Judge Ida Leggett retained jurisdiction on Tuesday, giving 23-year-old Denise E. Dixon a chance to avoid the prison term and clear her record by successfully completing 180 days at the Women’s Work Center in Boise. If she does so, a withheld judgment will be entered.

Dixon was charged June 5 after police apprehended her outside the bank. She was disguised as a man, wearing a latex mask, fake mustache, sunglasses, baggy clothes and a baseball cap. Police said she was carrying a bag with a typewritten note inside warning bank employees not to contact anyone or a bomb would go off.

Lewiston police were alerted to a possible robbery attempt by Pullman police, who had received a tip from a friend of Dixon’s.