WILMINGTON — A local bank robber, who later got away from police custody at Clinton Memorial Hospital and broke into a Peterson Place home, has begun serving an eight-year prison term.
John Dean McKinney Jr., 41, of Wilmington, pled guilty to robbery, escape, burglary, and breaking-and-entering.
The sentencing judge, John W. “Tim” Rudduck of Clinton County Common Pleas Court, noted McKinney had prior felony convictions and has served prison terms before for burglaries committed in this county.
These latest crimes began with McKinney robbing First Financial Bank on Fife Avenue in Wilmington on Aug. 30, making off with $2,400. The next day, police reported McKinney was found hiding in a garage on Applegate Street off Rombach Avenue in Wilmington.
Then on Sept. 4, McKinney broke away from the custody of law enforcement while he was at CMH. On the run, he entered a nearby home when a person was there at the time, as McKinney apparently looked for a change of clothes from his county jail outfit.
When loose, he also reportedly took a 2003 Lincoln LS vehicle that later was recovered in Wilmington, while McKinney remained at-large.
But he found himself back in police custody by the late afternoon of Sept. 6 when he was located in a shed near High and Columbus streets in Wilmington.
Later that month, Clinton County Jail inmate McKinney allegedly intimidated a corrections officer Sept. 23. He was indicted on a count of felony intimidation in connection with that incident, but the charge was dropped as part of a plea agreement that saw McKinney plead guilty to four other charges.
According to a sheriff’s office report on the alleged incident in the adult detention center, McKinney told the corrections officer that if she did not bring him cigarettes and a lighter, he would make up a story that she was bringing contraband into the jail for other inmates. He added that other inmates would help tell the story.
Moreover, according to court papers, prosecutors promised as part of the plea agreement not to pursue a charge “for any additional conduct that may have occurred when the defendant [McKinney] was incarcerated at the Clinton County Jail.”
At the sentencing hearing, McKinney was ordered to pay $788 restitution to the bank he robbed. The balance of the money that was seized Aug. 31 when McKinney was arrested is to be returned to the bank.
Time credit was granted toward the prison term for 94 days McKinney spent in jail.
Upon release from state prison, the Ohio Adult Parole Authority will supervise McKinney for three years.
Reach Gary Huffenberger at 937-556-5768.
