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Former Officer, Soldier Gets 8 Years Behind Bars for Robbing Bank

MINNEAPOLIS – A former Minneapolis police officer and military veteran who served in Iraq was sentenced Monday to eight years in prison for robbing an Apple Valley bank.

U.S. District Judge Patrick J. Schiltz sentenced Timothy Edward Carson, 29, of Rosemount, to 96 months in prison on one count of armed bank robbery and one count of possessing a firearm for use during a violent crime. Carson was indicted Feb. 2 and pleaded guilty a month later.

After the sentencing, U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones said that “when police officers break the law, it shakes public confidence and trust in ways we cannot measure. Today’s sentence makes clear that no one is above the law.”

Minneapolis Police Chief Timothy Dolan added, “Officer Carson’s actions hurt many, including his victims, family and those of us who wear a badge. … I hope that Tim Carson can get the help he needs to become a productive citizen.”

Carson’s attorney, Andrea George, argued that at the time of the Jan. 6 robbery, Carson was under severe stress from financial problems, a deceptive wife, a sick child and nightmares about his military service in Iraq.

Carson suffers from diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder, George said. In one May 2004 mortar attack in Iraq, he risked his life and saved several others when he ran to give first aid to injured servicemen, according to a military award recommendation.

George said that Carson told a doctor that he had hoped to die in a confrontation with police, leaving his wife to collect $250,000 in life insurance.

In papers filed before Carson’s sentencing, George asked Schiltz to give her client the minimum seven years in prison and five years of supervision, saying that Carson was subjected to “vast and intricate fabrications” by his wife, who lied about having cancer.

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