A federal judge has sentenced a central Illinois man to 10 years in prison for robbing banks and stores across a five-county region, including Peoria, Livingston, and Ford counties, in April of last year.
John Beck, 55, of Mechanicsburg, admitted robbing the Elmwood bank, the Village Pantry in Paxton, the Bank of Pontiac in Odell, and several other stores.
Beck also got another two years in prison for trying to escape from the Livingston County Jail. Federal judge Joe Billy McDade called Beck a career offender. Beck was on supervised release after a sentence for a bank heist 14 years ago when he committed the robbery spree.
