By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A 51-year-old Alabaster man will spend the next few decades in prison after he pleaded guilty to the 2013 armed robbery of an Inverness bank.

Eric Nilse Thomas, who lists an address on Simmsville Road in Alabaster, pleaded guilty to one felony count of first-degree robbery on Sept. 1, according to Shelby County Circuit Court documents. Another first-degree robbery charge pending against him was dropped as the result of a plea deal.

The Hoover Police Department arrested Thomas on July 12, 2013, and charged him with the two first-degree robbery charges after he robbed the Regions Bank at 102 Inverness Plaza while armed with a gun on July 11, 2013. During the robbery, Thomas threatened two Regions employees, according to his indictment.

According to his sentencing order, Thomas had five previous adult felony convictions for theft and drug charges at the time of his Sept. 1 sentencing.

In a motion filed in early August, the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office declared its intent to seek two consecutive life sentences for Thomas under the habitual offender statute.

Thomas originally was scheduled to stand trial on the two first-degree robbery charges on Sept. 14, but he entered a guilty plea before his trial began.

As a result of Thomas’ guilty plea, Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Dan Reeves sentenced him to a total of 25 years in prison, and ordered him to pay $4,638 in restitution to Regions Bank and to undergo a substance abuse treatment assessment and program while incarcerated.

Thomas was not sentenced as a habitual offender, according to his sentencing order. He received 782 days of jail credit for time served in the Shelby County Jail between his 2013 arrest and his sentencing date.