Man Sentenced to Prison for Hartland Bank Robbery

A Grand Blanc man will spend a minimum of three years in prison for robbing the in Hartland more than four years ago.

The maximum sentence on the bank robbery charge is life in prison. However, under a sentencing agreement Keith A. Williams, 31, was sentenced to 3-15 years in prison in Livingston County Circuit Court Thursday by retired Judge A. John Pikkarainen, filling in for Judge Michael Hatty.  

Williams was also ordered to pay over $5,300 in restitution. 

Williams' accomplice, 26-year-old Jason T. Patterson of Burton, was also to have been sentenced Thursday, but the proceeding was adjourned until Sept. 8 before Judge Hatty. 

According to police, on March 5, 2007, two men entered the bank on M-59 wearing hooded sweatshirts, ball caps and sunglasses. One of them handed a note to a teller demanding cash, and the bandits escaped in a Pontiac Montana minivan with more than $5,000.

The case remained unsolved for nearly four years until January of this year, when a citizen saw a surveillance video - which had been taken at a pharmacy next to the bank branch - on the Sheriff's Department website. The video showed one of the men stealing a pair of sunglasses from the pharmacy the morning of the robbery.

Williams pled guilty to the bank robbery charge on June 24 and Patterson pleaded on July 8.