Hung Lung robbery sentenced to 4 years

SPRINGFIELD — The man who officials say held a knife to a baby’s throat during a May robbery of Hung Lung Restaurant on Sunset Avenue was convicted of robbery Monday in Clark County Court of Common Pleas.

Sanchez T. Banks, 20, was sentenced to four years in prison for the robbery in which he got away with $470. Two counts of kidnapping and a charge of escape were dropped in accordance with a plea agreement, court records show.

During the robbery, Banks told the child’s mother to give him money out of the cash register, which she did, then allegedly said “give me more (expletive) money, I know you have more,” according to the police report. He then located and took money out of a box under the counter, handed the baby back to the woman and fled on foot, police said.

After an investigation identified Banks as a suspect in the robbery, police found he had outstanding, unrelated warrants for failure to appear on charges of attempted burglary, receiving stolen property and theft.

He was located and arrested June 2 on Rice Street on the warrants. While being taken into the Clark County Jail in handcuffs, police say Banks escaped from custody and was later found hiding under a parked car in a lot on Fisher Street.

Banks will serve time for the robbery consecutively to an 18-month sentence for receiving stolen property which was handed down in June on a separate case, according to court records.

Court records show Banks was convicted in 2009 of robbery and theft of a motor vehicle.

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