Man gets 5 years for bank robbery and bomb threat

An apologetic Waynesboro man pleaded guilty Tuesday to robbing SunTrust bank March 9 in a heist built around a bomb threat.

Adhering to a plea agreement, Judge Humes J. Franklin sentenced Stuart H. Veney III, 29, to five years in prison with 15 additional years suspended.

“I really wasn’t out to hurt anybody that day,” Veney told Franklin. “I made a big mistake and I’m sorry.”

Franklin said Veney’s remorse must have played a part in the deal with prosecutors, who could have pushed for a more severe sentence.

According to authorities:

Veney entered SunTrust in a dreadlock wig and gloves with the fingers cut out on the afternoon of March 9 and demanded $100 bills. He dropped a note and a black bag.

The note said: “You have 15 seconds to put at least $9,000 in $100’s & $50’s in front of me. Alarms, dye packs, bait money, tracking devices, or follow me out, will equal death. My briefcase will inflict a deadly wrath on all of you in this bank if you follow me. Time starts now!”

Tellers never read it, instead handing over $727, an amount Veney later described in a lament to a relative as “only seven beans,” according to testimony.

His flight from the bank took him to a Waynesboro High School trash can, where he dropped clothing later found by a police tracking dog.

Meanwhile, authorities shut down Broad Street for almost three hours while Virginia State Police worked to detonate a disruption shot inside the bank to disarm Veney’s “bomb.” The bomb was a ruse.

Recovered clothing, the robbery note and numerous phone calls and written messages given to authorities aided an investigation that caught up with Veney 34 hours later, police said.

DNA was found on clothing and handwriting analysis connected the note to Veney, said Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney James Camblos.

Attorneys agreed to request alternative incarceration for Veney, who has a history of mental illness described in previous testimony as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

A pre-trial evaluation deemed the man competent to understand proceedings.

According to court records dating to 1993, Veney has been convicted of marijuana possession, forgery, larceny by false pretenses, petty and grand larceny and obstructing justice in Waynesboro and Augusta, Albemarle and Rockingham counties.