N. Pa. man gets prison in bank worker’s carjacking
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WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — A northern Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to more than 14 years in federal prison for forcing a bank employee to drive to her branch at gunpoint because he was upset about his girlfriend’s home being foreclosed.
Fifty-nine-year-old Thomas Edward Smith, of Emporium, had been convicted of federal carjacking charges by a jury in Williamsport in August. He was sentenced by a federal judge there on Monday to 171 months in prison.
Smith pretended his car broke down and flagged down the employee for a ride, then ordered her at gunpoint to drive to a Citizens & Northern Bank branch in Emporium on Aug. 8, 2012.
The woman eventually refused and jumped from her vehicle in a convenience store parking lot. Smith also ran away and eluded authorities for about a month.