Man who robbed Corbin bank gets 13.5 years in prison

A local man who allegedly robbed a Corbin bank in broad daylight in late March was sentenced to over 13 years in federal prison Tuesday and will have to pay over $7,000 in restitution.

George Nathan Lyttle, 28, of London, was formally sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in London by Judge Amul R. Tharpar with one count of bank robbery by force or violence, and for using a firearm in the commission of a crime. Pursuant to a plea agreement reached in August, prosecutors agreed to drop a third charge of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. Lyttle could have received up to 30 years in prison on the charges.

Tharpar ordered Lyttle to serve 162 months of incarceration (13.5 years) and pay $7,737 in restitution. Once his sentence is complete, he will be on five years of supervised release.

Lyttle entered Hometown Bank on Master Street in Corbin on March 30 about 10:20 a.m. and threatened one of the tellers with a pistol. According to court documents he took $11,527 in U.S. currency. Bank employees say the amount was higher, $11,748.68.

Authorities later caught him at a north Corbin apartment complex after Lyttle’s sister, Kennethia Clark, provided police with information about where he could be found.

Clark was spotted by Corbin Police Chief David Campbell in a vehicle that matched the description of a blue Ford Taurus authorities say Lyttle got into after robbing the bank. Clark admitted to Corbin Police Capt. Tim Helton that her brother robbed the bank.

Lyttle was hiding in a closet in his mother’s apartment at Northfield Station Apartment Complex. According to an affidavit filed by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Special Agent Todd Tremaine, officers on the scene located $3,000 in an empty jar in the kitchen garbage can.

Clark said her brother told her he robbed a bank when he came into the apartment and wanted her to help him count the money. He then supposedly gave her $200 in $50 denominations.

According to the affidavit, Lyttle admitted in an interview with authorities that he committed the crime and that he hid the pistol, an Armscor .38 caliber revolver, underneath the couch at his mother’s residence. Police subsequently found it. The firearm belonged to his mother.

Tremaine writes in the affidavit that Lyttle said he was inspired to commit the robbery after watching a show on A&E, a television channel, the previous night "about a guy that robbed 36 banks."

Lyttle also told police he had to "get a little loud" with bank employees because they did not believe at first it was a real robbery. He also indicated the bank was targeted at random.

According to the affidavit, Lyttle has been convicted three previous times of crimes: in Madison County for receiving stolen property and in Knox County for burglary, arson and theft.

Lyttle was originally charged with one count of first-degree robbery and two counts of first-degree wanton endangerment in Knox County District Court for threatening the bank tellers. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in late May. Typically, once federal charges are filed in relation to a crime, state charges are subsequently dropped.

Shortly after being captured by police, Lyttle admitted to members of the news media he robbed the bank and that he was motivated to do so by the lackluster economy.

Lyttle was represented by London Attorney Eric S. Edwards. Assistant U.S. Attorney William Dotson represented the United States.