Lakemoor man gets 43 months for robbery

A Lakemoor man was sentenced to 43 months in prison Monday for the Christmastime robbing of a McHenry bank, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

According to a news release, Benjamin T. Thoma, 28, entered a Charter One Bank at Dominick's on Richmond Road at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 19. According to his plea agreement, he then told the teller he had a bomb in his duffel bag and said she had two minutes to hand over the money.

Thoma escaped with $2,409 in cash.

He has been in custody since the day of the robbery.

In addition to being ordered to serve roughly 3½ years in prison, federal Judge Frederick J. Kapala ordered Thoma to serve three years of supervised release after he gets out of jail. According to the release, he also must pay a $500 fine, a $100 special assessment and $100 in restitution. The $2,409 recovered from Thoma at the time of his Dec. 19 arrest will be returned to the bank.

Thoma's prior arrest record includes charges of dangerous drugs, criminal damage to property, obstructing justice, disorderly conduct, assault and miscellaneous traffic offenses, the news release stated.