84-year-old gets 21 years in prison for Arizona bank robbery

PHOENIX (AP) - An 84-year-old man who spent most of his adult life behind bars for robbing banks was sentenced Tuesday to more than 21 years in prison for carrying out an armed heist at an Arizona credit union.

Authorities say Robert Krebs carried out the January 2018 holdup in Tucson about seven months after he was released from prison as he was struggling to adjust to life on the outside.

Krebs, who was in a wheelchair and had trouble hearing during his during sentencing hearing, declined to answer a judge's question about whether he accepted responsibility for his actions.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer Zipps said Krebs doesn't appear to be remorseful and that his actions in the past have done damage to society and caused other people to be fearful. 'œThis is the same type of conduct that he has been involved with his whole life,'ť Zipps said.

Kreb's attorney, Erin Carrillo, said her client committed the Tucson robbery to return to prison because he didn't feel like he fit into society after spending decades in prison. 'œTo get out of the freedom business and go back to the penitentiary - that's what he told me,'ť Carrillo said.

Krebs served more than 30 years for a 1981 bank robbery in Florida and was sentenced to three years in prison after a 1966 conviction in Chicago for embezzling $72,000 from a bank where he worked as a teller.

He also served an additional 17 years for theft and armed robbery convictions from Arizona dating to 1980.