GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A drug-addled man who used hand-written notes to get money from businesses and a bank was sentenced to prison Thursday for a 2017 crime spree a judge called “intolerable.’’
“We can’t tolerate this as a society,’’ Kent County Circuit Court Judge Curt Benson said.
He sentenced Jacob A. Savickas to a minimum of about 2½ years for using a note to rob the Independent Bank on Plainfield Avenue NE in Grand Rapids. Benson set the maximum term at 20 years.
“What you’ve done, handing a note to a bank teller demanding money, is simply intolerable in our society,’’ Benson said.
The Aug. 2, 2017 bank robbery was one of several heists Savickas carried out in the Grand Rapids area that month. Targeted businesses included a restaurant and a gas station.
“Even if you were armed or not armed doesn’t matter,’’ Benson said. “I’m sure when you’re not on drugs or not drug seeking, you’re a good man.’’
Defense attorney Stephanie Koorndyk said Savickas went on the crime spree to fuel his addiction to drugs and alcohol.
“That doesn’t minimize what he did, but I think that we would find that if he was sober, this would have never, ever happened,’’ Koorndyk said.
Savickas, 35, of Howard City, apologized. “I’d just like to move on with my life at this point,’’ he said.
Over the span of eight days in late July and early August of 2017, police say Savickas, who has grappled with substance abuse problems and financial woes, was involved in more than a half-dozen unarmed robberies.
His face was plastered on local television stations and in newspapers and a description of his rusting, 2001 Oldsmobile Intrigue provided to police agencies statewide.
Savickas was arrested at a hotel on 28th Street SE in Kent County's Cascade Township. Police said there was strong evidence Savickas was “substantially” under the influence of cocaine during his crimes.