Man sentenced in botched Providence bank robbery
10:25 AM Tue, Jan 27, 2009 | Permalink
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PROVIDENCE, RI -- A man involved with a botched bank heist last summer that ended with the suicide of one of his co-conspirators has been sentenced to the Adult Correctional Institutions. Anthony Gardiner, 38, pleaded guilty in Providence County Superior Court on Friday to seven criminal charges for his role in robbing the Bank of America branch on Broad Street and shooting at Providence police officers. He was sentenced sentenced to 30 years, with 20 years to serve. The plan to hold up the bank on July 24 began with the threat of violence and ended in gunfire. Gardiner and Arres T. Byrd, a convicted bank robber who'd just been released from prison, walked into the branch with guns, demanding money and threatening the customers and bank tellers with violence if anyone set off the alarms, according to the Providence police and attorney general's office. The men got nearly $14,000 and took off in a getaway vehicle -- but someone spotted them and hailed the police. Confronted by a swarm of officers, Byrd fired at the cruisers, hitting the vehicles but missing the cops, and then turned the gun on himself. As a detective pleaded with him to stop, Byrd put the gun to his own head and pulled the trigger. Gardiner, meanwhile, left a trail of money scattered through the streets as he fled to his house at 388 Public St. The police found $6,630 cash in Gardiner's bedroom, and collected thousands more from the streets, enough to return more than $13,000 to the bank. Gardiner and Byrd's girlfriend, Yolanda C. Briggs, were charged in the robbery. Briggs' case is still pending. Gardiner pleaded guilty to two charges of first-degree robbery, two charges of assault with a dangerous weapon on two Providence police officers, plus a charge of conspiracy, one count of committing a crime of violence with access to a firearm, and one count of discharging a firearm during the commission of a violent crime. Associate Justice Robert D. Krause sentenced Gardiner to 30 years, with 20 years to serve and the balance of the 30 years suspended with probation on each of the first-degree robbery charges, to be served concurrently. Gardiner also received a concurrent sentence of 10 years suspended with probation for the conspiracy charge, and 10 years suspended with probation for committing a crime of violence with access to a handgun, also to be served concurrently. The judge also sentenced Gardiner to 20 years suspended with probation on each of the two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon on an officer, to be served concurrently. In exchange for his plea, the prosecution dismissed one count of carrying a handgun without a license, one count of conspiracy to carry a handgun without a license, one count of conspiracy to carry a handgun during the commission of a crime of violence, two counts of assaulting an officer, and one count of discharging a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence. "This career criminal-turned-armed bank robber has received a proportional sentence for his part in committing these violent crimes, which endangered the safety and lives not only of the victims but also of the Providence police officers involved in his pursuit and apprehension," Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch said in a prepared statement. 
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