A judge sentenced a Groton man to five years in prison Wednesday for robbing an Old Lyme bank in 2015, telling the man to put himself in the position of the victims of his lengthy criminal record.

Herman "Butchie" Smith says he doesnt remember the afternoon in September 2015 when he walked into the Webster Bank in Old Lyme andgave a teller a white plastic bag and a note written in purple crayon that said, "Give me the money no one gets hurt," his defense attorney told Judge Hillary B. Strackbein in New London Superior Courton Wednesday.

Smith, whose acquaintances told police the Groton resident was addicted to heroin, was under the influence of drugs that day,attorney M. Fred DeCaprio said before Strackbein sentenced Smith to five years in prison and imposedfive years of special parole following his release.

Smith, 40,had pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery as part of a plea agreement between DeCaprio and State's Attorney Lawrence J. Tytla.

Tytla said Smith, who fled the scene of the robbery on a bicycle, left the bank with about $14,000.

He has 22 criminal convictions for robbery, larceny and drug possession, and served three years in prison for the 2007 robbery of a Mystic Bank, according to police and court records. He also has violated probation requirements for many of those sentences, Tytla said Wednesday.

Smith's sentence also includes a three-year sentence for conspiracy to commit second-degree larceny and a one-year sentence for violation of a protective order, both of which he will serve concurrentlywith the five years for robbery.

Smith pleaded guilty to both of those charges under the Alford Doctrine, which indicates he does not agree with the state's version of the case but does not want to risk a trial, where he could receive a harsher sentence if convicted.

After police releasedsurveillance photographs of the Sept. 23 robbery to the media, several relatives and acquaintances contacted police to identify him. Some recognized Smith, a reported UConn Huskies fan and an avid bicyclist, because he was wearing aHuskies basketball cap in the surveillancephotos andfled on a racing bike.

Strackbein admonished Smith for his lengthy criminal record and told him that bank tellers "have to live in fear anytime someone walks in the bank."

"People who think that drugs are victimless crimes are wrong, once again," she told Smith. "If you want to use drugs and rob people, and rob banks,that's going to be your life ... and so far that's been your life."

m.shanahan@theday.com

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Groton man who robbed Old Lyme bank on a bike sentenced to five years - theday.com