The head of the state NAACP on Monday called for a state investigation into racial sentencing patterns in Cobb County.

Edward DuBose said racial disparity in the recent sentencing of the four defendants in the so-called Barbie Bandits bank theft case prompted a request he intends to make to state Attorney General Thurbert Baker.

Jessica McGowan/AJC

Heather Lyn Johnston, 20, pleaded guilty to one count of theft by taking, a felony and one count of possessing less than an ounce of marijuana, a misdemeanor. She was sentenced to 10 years probation.

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"When four people are involved in the same crime and those who happen to be Caucasian receive much less time than those who are African American, this reflects a problem in the justice system that must be addressed," DuBose said at a news conference at the Cobb NAACP headquarters in Marietta.

The Feb. 27, 2007, heist at a Bank of America branch in Acworth involved four people: two young white women and a black male bank teller — who admitted their roles — and another black man convicted by a jury of planning the job.

Heather Lyn Johnston, 20, and Ashley Nicole Miller, 19, both pleaded guilty to theft- by-taking charges. Miller received two years in jail, followed by eight years probation. Johnson got 10 years probation.

Prosecutors had recommended both be sentenced to 10 years, three in jail and seven years' probation.

Bank teller Benny Allen III also pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to five years in jail. Prosecutors had recommended six.

Allen, 23, told the women what to write in their demand note and handed them the money, nearly $11,000.

He was on probation for a drug conviction when he was sentenced and the prosecutor in the bank case said he had not cooperated with authorities.

"He was not honest before his plea. He was not honest after his plea," prosecutor Bonnie Derrer said at his sentencing.

Michael Chastang, who is serving 15 years on drug-trafficking charges unrelated to the bank heist, received the most severe of the sentences meted out by Superior Court Judge Mary Staley.

She ordered the 28-year-old Chastang to complete the term on the drug charges, then serve 10 years for the bank theft.

Police found Ecstasy on Chastang when he was arrested.

Staley noted Chastang's role in the bank theft case —he was the one who put the women in contact with Allen, the teller.

Johnston started cooperating with police two days after the heist, and Miller, who also had a DUI arrest in Clayton County, began cooperating later.

Although DuBose said he recognized that both men had prior convictions for drugs, he maintained the sentences were inequitable.

"This is a case that clearly reflects unequal justice," he said. "These two women referred to as the Barbie Bandits should have received sentences equal to the African Americans."

Deane Bonner, president of the Cobb NAACP branch, said members have monitored sentencing in Cobb and believe African-Americans are sentenced more harshly than whites for the same crime.

She said she did not have statistics at hand but would provide them at a later time.

"We have the cases," she said. "We're just saying it is time to speak out."