CLEVELAND, Ohio — A Cleveland man was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison for robbing four dollar stores and a bank.
Reginald Wimberly, 24, pulled a gun in four holdups and threatened to shoot someone at the bank. The heists took place in a four-day span.
U.S. District Judge Bridget Brennan adopted a plea agreement reached by prosecutors and Wimberly’s defense attorney that called for the sentence. She ordered Wimberly to repay $1,426 that he stole and sentenced him to three years of post-prison supervision that includes mental health and drug treatment programs.
“Obviously this is very serious,” Brennan said. “Someone could have been seriously harmed or killed in any of these robberies.”
Wimberly robbed three Dollar General stores on Cleveland’s East Side from noon to 6 p.m. on Dec. 27, 2022. The next day, he held up a Family Dollar store, and on Dec. 30, 2022, he did the same at the Citizens Bank on Broadway Avenue near East 57th Street.
During the bank robbery, Wimberly slid a note to a teller demanding $20,000 and threatening to shoot the person next to him if he didn’t get the money.
The teller handed him $100, and Wimberly ran from the bank.
Wimberly dropped his phone inside the bank and the FBI initially arrested the phone’s owner, who was Wimberly’s roommate at the time. Agents later determined Wimberly had taken the phone to the bank.
He admitted to FBI agents that he robbed the bank because he was “tired of being broke and out of money,” according to court records.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen Rolph said Wimberly’s robberies “escalated” and that the victims feared for their lives, including one who “has been impacted long-term.”
Wimberly declined to speak during the hearing, saying only that he had a good attorney.
Rolph and Wimberly’s defense attorney, James Kersey, said during the hearing that Wimberly suffered from drug addiction and mental illnesses that caused him at times to spiral.
“That’s a combination that shows why we’re here and why exactly he did what he did,” Kersey said.
