Mar 25, 2008 8:28 pm US/Central
'Barbie Bandits' Ringleader Gets 10 Years
MARIETTA, Ga (AP) ―
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Ashley Nichole Miller (left) and Heather Lyn Johnston (right) seen here in their Cobb County Police booking photos from March 2, 2007.
AP
A man convicted of being the mastermind behind the so-called "Barbie Bandits" bank theft was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison.
Michael Chastang's term was added to the 15 years he already is serving on drug charges.
"For the theft, you used the others," Superior Court Judge Mary Staley told him. "You orchestrated it. You sat in the back and put the pawns out to do it."
Chastang, 28, who was convicted of theft, plotted with Heather Johnston, Ashley Miller and teller Benny Allen III to steal $11,000 from an Acworth supermarket branch of Bank of America on Feb. 27, 2007.
Johnston and Miller became known as the "Barbie Bandits" after they were caught on videotape, in sunglasses and laughing as they appeared to rob the bank.
In plotting the theft, Chastang put the young women in touch with the teller, who was part of the scheme, authorities said.
The judge sentenced Miller, 19, on Monday to two years in jail. Johnston, also 19, was sentenced to 10 years' probation, getting a lighter sentence because she was the first to cooperate with the investigation.
Allen got five years in jail.
The judge noted that Chastang has a criminal record including drug, firearms and weapons charges going back seven years and said the 10-year sentence is "certainly well-deserved."
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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