Syracuse, NY -- A man who robbed a Syracuse bank then took a cab back home to Utica could spend the rest of his life in prison. Shaun Mason, 47, was sentenced this morning by Onondaga County Judge Joseph Fahey to serve a 16-year-to-life sentence. Mason, also known as Akehenaton Xerxes, pleaded guilty on Sept. 30 to second-degree robbery....
Shaun Mason was sentenced to 16 years to life today for robbing a Syracuse bank. He received a stiff penalty because it was his third felony conviction in 10 years.Syracuse, NY -- A man who robbed a Syracuse bank then took a cab back home to Utica could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Shaun Mason, 47, was sentenced this morning by Onondaga County Judge Joseph Fahey to serve a 16-year-to-life sentence.
Mason, also known as Akehenaton Xerxes, pleaded guilty on Sept. 30 to second-degree robbery. He had been accused of robbing the M&T Bank at South Salina and East Water streets on Jan. 7. Unable to catch a bus or train back to Utica, Mason took a cab, police said. He was arrested at his Kossuth Avenue home the next day.
Second-degree robbery typically carries a sentence of 3 1/2 to 15 years in prison, but Mason received a stiffer sentence because the crime was his third felony conviction in 10 years, excluding jail time, said Assistant District Attorney Michael Kasmarek.
That record made him a persistent violent felony offender, mandating the heavier sentence, Kasmarek said.