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June 20, 2008
Singer gets 9 1/2 years prison sentence
News- Herald (OH):
As first tenor for the '50s singing group The Coronets, Lester Russaw briefly got a taste of fame. With legendary DJ Alan Freed as their mentor, the Cleveland-based Coronets had several hit records, including the song, "Nadine," which rose to No. 3 on the R&B charts.
But sadly, music isn't likely to be Russaw's legacy. On Wednesday, the 74-year-old Mayfield Heights man was sentenced to 91/2 years in a federal prison for committing armed robberies last year at KeyBank in Wickliffe and a Huntington National Bank in Cleveland, taking more than $15,000. All the money was recovered.
Russaw told U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. that he suffers from prostate cancer and felt he had no other way of getting money. "I wasn't greedy," he said. "I didn't do it for drugs. I didn't want to buy a big-screen TV or a Rolex. I did it because I was desperate." Russaw said he had recently lost his job of 15 years after the company went out of business.
Posted by acapnews at June 20, 2008 12:00 AM
