A Lithonia man was sentenced to 22½ years in prison Wednesday after he was convicted of robbing a Conyers credit union and leading police on a high-speed chase.
Cepeda Broughton had pleaded guilty in September to charges of armed bank robbery, use of a firearm during a crime of violence and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, prosecutors said.
During the man's sentencing hearing Wednesday in Atlanta, U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg also ordered Broughton to serve three years’ supervised release.
“This defendant terrorized the employees and customers of Georgia’s Own Credit Union during an armed bank robbery,” U.S. Attorney Sally Yates said in a prepared statement.
“He then led police on a high-speed chase in the rain, on busy highways in Conyers,” Yates said. “The chase resulted in several car accidents, involving both private citizens and police officers. The defendant’s callous disregard for the law and the rights of law-abiding citizens could easily have had far more tragic consequences.”
According to prosecutors, the 41-year-old Broughton entered the credit union the afternoon of March 9, ordered a customer and four employees into a back room and had one worker bind the others with duct tape.
The suspect ordered the employee to open the bank vault and place money in a bag he had brought with him, then forced the hostage to accompany him to teller stations and give him money from the tellers’ drawers.
Broughton then bound the employee with duct tape and fled with $140,276 -- only to find his escape blocked by arriving units of the Conyers Police Department.
He jumped the curb in a stolen GMC Denali and led officers on a high-speed chase on Sigman Road and Ga. 138, weaving in and out of traffic, jumping a median and causing multiple accidents.
A police vehicle struck the Denali and forced it onto an embankment. Broughton jumped out and ran. At one point, he brandished a handgun at police, and they opened fire. Officers eventually chased him down and took him into custody behind an apartment complex.
The proceeds of the robbery were recovered from the Denali.
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