Published: July 02, 2009 08:38 am      

Lyttle pleads not guilty to bank robbery

By Carl Keith Greene / Staff Writer

Wednesday morning in U.S. District Court in London, George Lyttle pleaded not guilty to charges that he robbed the Hometown Bank on Master St. in Corbin.

Lyttle, according to Magistrate Judge Robert Weir, allegedly took some $11,527 from the bank during an armed robbery on March 30.

What is estimated to be a five-day trial is set to begin in Judge Amul Thapar’s courtroom at 9:30 a.m. Aug. 25.

Lyttle could face up to 25 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the armed robbery count of his indictment, five years and a fine of $250,000 added to the 25 years for brandishing a weapon, and 10 years and a $250,000 fine for being a felon armed with a firearm.

Upon his arrest at his mother’s home on March 30, Lyttle told a reporter that he robbed the bank “because I’m hurting for money. My family is hurting for money.”

According to an affidavit filed by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Agent Todd Tremaine, Lyttle said that the night before the robbery he had watched an A&E cable channel program about a man who robbed 36 banks. He said the show “might have inspired me.”