An Old Town man will spend more than 17 years in prison after he was convicted of a fourth bank robbery.
Donald Turner, 51, was sentenced Friday in Maine U.S. District Court to 17 ½ years in prison for bank robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm. The sentences will be served at the same time, according to court records.
Turner pleaded guilty Nov. 2 to robbing the Bangor Savings Bank on Hogan Road on Sept. 10, 2020. He entered the bank in Bangor and showed a teller a note, saying he had a gun and it was a robbery, according to court documents.
He did not display a gun during the robbery. Turner’s gun did not have a firing pin, which meant he could not shoot it.
The teller gave Turner about $700 in $1 bills because that was the majority of her drawer, she told police. He ended up with about $1,300 total, after she gave him about $200 in $20 and $50 bills, according to court records.
Turner faced a minimum sentence of 15 years due to his previous convictions for bank robbery.
He was convicted of robbing a Portland Gorham Savings Bank in 2006 and the South Portland TD Bank North Branch two days later, for a total of about $6,000. In 2011 Turner was convicted of robbing Bangor Savings Bank in Bangor, where he stole about $3,000.
“He is deeply remorseful that he has caused multiple bank tellers to fear for their lives,” Turner’s attorney said in court filings. “He understands that his victims have sought out therapy and that the pain he caused them still lingers. Don is embarrassed and ashamed that his selfish drive to consume drugs altered the lives of people who never deserved that.”
Turner will serve his sentence in federal prison.
