GREENFIELD — A woman who helped rob a bank after calling in a bomb threat to a local school in hopes of diverting police from the holdup was sentenced Thursday to serve five years after pleading guilty to felony charges of robbery and false reporting.
Britney Krieg, 20, of Anderson, was arrested in March after calling in a bomb threat to Mt. Vernon High School as part of a plot to rob the Greenfield Banking Co. branch in Fortville.
Krieg was sentenced Thursday in Hancock Circuit Court to three years in the Hancock County Jail, followed by two years in Hancock County Community Corrections — which could include a commitment to home detention or a work-release program — and one year on probation.
Krieg originally was charged with robbery, a Level 5 felony, and false reporting, a Level 6 felony. She accepted a plea deal from prosecutors in late June in which she agreed to testify against her accused accomplice, Matthew Irwin, 30, of Fortville.
The robbery and bomb threat occurred within hours of each other March 13, and Fortville Police officers suspected the two instances were connected from the start of their investigations.
Students at Mt. Vernon High School — who were in the midst of final exams — were evacuated around 10:45 a.m. that Friday after Krieg called in a bomb threat to the school, police said.
A half-hour later, dispatchers received a call about a robbery at the bank, 111 W. Broadway St., after a man wearing a fake beard and glasses reportedly handed a teller a note demanding money.
Suspecting the robbery and bomb threat were related, police pulled the school’s phone records. They traced the call Krieg made to the main office to a Speedway gas station in Anderson, where surveillance footage showed Krieg using a payphone.
Krieg’s handwriting also matches the writing on the note handed to the bank teller by the alleged robber, prosecutors said.
Irwin, who remains in the Hancock County Jail, faces three felony charges including two counts of robbery, a Level 5 felony, and intimidation, a Level 6 felony. He is also charged with a misdemeanor count of false informing and faces enhanced sentencing if convicted because he is classified as a habitual offender.
Irwin’s trial is slated for Sept. 8 in Hancock Circuit Court.