Man gets 26 life sentences for multi-state bank robbery spree
An Indiana man will spend the rest of his life in federal prison after being sentenced Tuesday for committing 13 robberies in six states two years ago, including four in North Carolina.
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A federal judge sentenced Chad Schaffner, 39, to 26 life sentences in prison. He had already pleaded guilty to the armed robberies in the Carolinas, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Tennessee.
"These sentences will give some comfort to the victims whose lives were forever changed by the criminal actions of Chad Schaffner. He will never be able to commit armed robbery or any other crime again," Bill Killian, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, said.
Schaffner's girlfriend, Linda Christina Davis, was sentenced last January to 27 months in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of accessory after the fact. Prosecutors said she let him use her car in two Tennessee robberies and rented hotel rooms for him in other states to help him avoid capture.
Armed with a gun, Schaffner robbed 11 banks, a credit union and a store between May and September 2009.
He robbed banks in Fletcher, N.C., on May 15, 2009, Fayetteville on July 6, 2009; Edenton on July 15, 2009; and Hendersonville on Aug. 10, 2009.
During the manhunt, the FBI splashed bank surveillance photos of Schaffner on billboards and electronic highway signs across the South. FEB agents credited that unconventional tactic with leading to his arrest in Missouri in September 2009.
Schaffner had spent 14 years in prison in Indiana for convictions including armed robbery, burglary and escaping from custody, according to Indiana Department of Correction records.
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