Teen sentenced to 30 years for bank robberies

AUSTIN (AP) — A 17-yearold boy was sentenced Monday to 30 years in prison after being convicted of two counts of aggravated robbery for robbing a bank twice in January.

A jury found Charles Blackburn Jr. guilty last week of entering a Bank of America branch in Round Rock, an Austin suburb, on Jan. 10 and Jan. 30 with a BB gun and demanding cash. Blackburn's sentences will run concurrently and he will be eligible for parole in 15 years, District Attorney John Bradley said for a story in Monday's online edition of the Austin American-Statesman.

Blackburn had pleaded not guilty to the charges because the BB gun was not loaded, said his lawyer, Duke Hildreth.

Although Blackburn was 16 at the time of the robberies, a judge decided in July that he could be tried as an adult.

Prosecutors said his mother, Diedre Blackburn, has also been charged with five counts of aggravated robbery and is expected to go to trial Dec. 1. Police say she helped plan the two robberies as well as two others at another Bank of America branch in Round Rock in December and January of 2007.

Charles Blackburn was also charged in connection with those robberies, but prosecutors moved forward on just two charges.

Bradley said he's not certain if Blackburn will be prosecuted on the other charges.