Bank Robber Sentenced To 57 Months

Tue., Dec. 23, 1997

By Bill Morlin billm@spokesman.com

A man who committed a string of bank robberies in Spokane last summer will serve almost five years in prison after admitting his guilt.

Dawayne D. Butler, 32, also will be responsible for making $10,382 in restitution to five banks under terms of a plea agreement.

He was arrested Aug. 5 in the Spokane Valley after an FBI agent found a fingerprint on a robbery note and put it through a computerized fingerprint database.

The computerized match-up gave agents the suspect’s name and led to his eventual capture.

Butler, who has a history of drug and alcohol abuse, was sentenced Friday to 57 months in federal prison by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Whaley.

The robber faced a range of 51 to 63 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.

Butler pleaded guilty to three bank robberies, according to court documents that link him to a total of five holdups from July 1 to Aug. 1.

The prosecution moved for dismissal of two bank robbery counts in exchange for Butler’s guilty pleas, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Pamela Byerly.

Butler pleaded guilty to these robberies:

July 1, Sterling Savings, 300 S. Grand, $1,860 taken.

July 18, Inland Northwest Bank, 1021 E. Hawthorne, $1,697.

July 21, U.S. Bank, 2807 E. 29th, $3,180.

He also admitted but wasn’t formally charged with the July 29 holdup of Farmers & Merchants Bank, 10808 E. Sprague, where $1,302 was taken.

He also confessed to the Aug. 1 robbery of Seafirst, 12320 N. Highway 395, where $2,343 was taken.

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