A serial bank robber who led police on a high-speed chase on Charleston's East End last spring has been charged by a federal grand jury with robbing two West Virginia banks.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A serial bank robber who led police on a high-speed chase on Charleston's East End last spring has been charged by a federal grand jury with robbing two West Virginia banks.
Anthony Ray Artrip, 37, of Ashland, Ky., allegedly took almost $53,000 from the City National Bank in Marmet just before he was spotted at the Stop-N-Go at the corner of Ruffner Avenue and Washington Street East in Charleston.
Along with two other men, Artrip had escaped from the Edgecombe County Detention Center in North Carolina and stolen a pickup truck before heading to West Virginia, police said at the time.
When an officer spotted a truck matching the stolen vehicle's description refueling at the gas station, it sped off and led police on a high-speed chase that ran up and down the East End before ending on Greenbrier Street near Kanawha Boulevard.
Artrip has at least one previous federal bank-robbing conviction and was once on the U.S. Marshals 15 Most Wanted List. He told reporters immediately following his arrest that he robbed the bank in Marmet because he needed money for gas.
Artrip reportedly told a federal judge that he robbed banks for the "adrenaline rush," and that he is a nice person, his penchant for robbing banks notwithstanding.
He is serving a lengthy prison sentence at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta. His projected release date is December 2035, according to the Bureau of Prisons' Web site.
The two-count indictment also charges Artrip with taking $1,665 from the First Century Bank branch in Princeton on June 30, 2007.
If convicted on the new charges, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
Artrip has a history of breaking out of custody, including escapes from two Kentucky jails: in Boyd County in 1997 and in Grant County in June 2007. At the time of his second escape, he was awaiting federal trial for a bank robbery in Portsmouth, Ohio, according to news reports.
Reach Andrew Clevenger at acleven...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1723.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A serial bank robber who led police on a high-speed chase on Charleston's East End last spring has been charged by a federal grand jury with robbing two West Virginia banks.
Anthony Ray Artrip, 37, of Ashland, Ky., allegedly took almost $53,000 from the City National Bank in Marmet just before he was spotted at the Stop-N-Go at the corner of Ruffner Avenue and Washington Street East in Charleston.
Along with two other men, Artrip had escaped from the Edgecombe County Detention Center in North Carolina and stolen a pickup truck before heading to West Virginia, police said at the time.
When an officer spotted a truck matching the stolen vehicle's description refueling at the gas station, it sped off and led police on a high-speed chase that ran up and down the East End before ending on Greenbrier Street near Kanawha Boulevard.
Artrip has at least one previous federal bank-robbing conviction and was once on the U.S. Marshals 15 Most Wanted List. He told reporters immediately following his arrest that he robbed the bank in Marmet because he needed money for gas.
Artrip reportedly told a federal judge that he robbed banks for the "adrenaline rush," and that he is a nice person, his penchant for robbing banks notwithstanding.
He is serving a lengthy prison sentence at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta. His projected release date is December 2035, according to the Bureau of Prisons' Web site.
The two-count indictment also charges Artrip with taking $1,665 from the First Century Bank branch in Princeton on June 30, 2007.
If convicted on the new charges, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
Artrip has a history of breaking out of custody, including escapes from two Kentucky jails: in Boyd County in 1997 and in Grant County in June 2007. At the time of his second escape, he was awaiting federal trial for a bank robbery in Portsmouth, Ohio, according to news reports.
Reach Andrew Clevenger at acleven...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1723.
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