An Oregon man described as a menacing “career bank robber” by a U.S. attorney was sentenced to more than 17 years in federal prison Friday for a string of six recent bank robberies in the Portland area and Vancouver.
Ronald William Henning, 52, of Sandy, after serving that term, also will be under federal supervision for another five years, and was ordered to pay about $49,000 in restitution to the banks he robbed, according to a bulletin from Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Sussman, who prosecuted the case.
Henning had pleaded guilty to six counts of armed bank robbery between November 2008 and February 2009, five in the Portland area and one in Vancouver, the bulletin said. “He pointed the gun at bank employees during the robberies and, in one case, threatened to shoot the teller if she did not hurry up,” Sussman said in the bulletin.
And he’d previously been convicted of two bank robberies in federal court and two more in an Oregon state court, for a total of 10, the bulletin said.
“Nothing short of a lengthy prison term will prevent Mr. Henning from robbing again,” U.S. Attorney Dwight C. Holton said in the bulletin.
Holton also said Henning is a “career bank robber” who “needlessly traumatized innocent bank employees” during the robberies.
U.S. District Judge Garr M. King called Henning’s case “one of the most egregious” he’d seen in 12 years on the bench.
Henning’s career ended abruptly on Feb. 24, 2009, when he, while wearing a full-face motorcycle helmet, robbed a bank in Gresham. Witnesses saw him get into a car and described it to police.
When officers spotted the getaway car and tried to pull Henning over, he accelerated to 80 mph in a pursuit, then jumped a curb and hit another, disabling the car. He fled on foot but was soon captured, the bulletin said.
Officers said they found cash on Henning, in the car, and at his home; an air pistol that looked like a semiautomatic handgun; the motorcycle helmet; and a black ski mask he used in the first five bank robberies.
During the sentencing, three bank employees spoke of the fear and continuing emotional trauma they experienced, and Henning apologized to them, the bulletin said.
