By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

The man charged with the Jan. 5, 2013, robbery of Union State Bank on Pelham Parkway was sentenced to prison on April 3. According to a news release, a federal judge sentenced Jimmy Dawson Cunningham Jr., 39, of Salem, to eight years and four months in prison in addition to “$14,780 in restitution to the four banks that lost money.”

Cunningham was apprehended in Pelham on Jan. 15, 2013, following a 12-day robbery spree of five north Alabama banks, National Bank of Commerce in Birmingham, PNC Bank and Regions Bank in Mountain Brook, First Community Bank in Cullman and Union State Bank in Pelham.

The money stolen from the bank in Cullman was recovered after the crime. No injuries were reported from the 12-day spree, and according to Pelham Police Department Deputy Chief Larry Palmer, a weapon “was implied but never seen” during the robberies.

According to court documents, Cunningham entered a not guilty plea “by reason of mental disease or defect” on Jan. 4, 2013, however he later pleaded guilty to the five robberies.

According to the April 3 news release, the case was investigated by the FBI, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the Mountain Brook, Cullman and Pelham police departments. Cunningham was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Inge P. Johnson.