Hoffa sentenced to 91/2 years in prison
In June, William James Hoffa Jr., 48, pleaded guilty in federal court to charges alleging he robbed the Parkvale Savings Bank in Uniontown and attempting to rob the Parkvale Savings Bank in Chalk Hill. During his sentencing Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Gustave Diamond sentenced Hoffa to 115 months incarceration for the crimes and ordered him to pay nearly $1,500 in restitution to Parkvale Savings Bank in Uniontown.
Hoffa was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh Jan. 30 on the charges and initially pleaded not guilty.
However, Hoffa changed his plea during a hearing held in early June.
The two-count indictment named Hoffa as the sole defendant accused of robbing the Uniontown bank on Christmas Eve, 2007, stealing more than $1,400, and attempting to rob the Chalk Hill bank less than a month later on Jan. 10.
FBI agents and state police took Hoffa into custody without incident when he allegedly arrived at the bank with a toy gun and ski mask.
According to FBI Special Agent Andrew N. Veitch, Uniontown police were contacted by a confidential source Hoffa met at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting sometime after the Dec. 24 robbery.
The unidentified informant told Uniontown police how Hoffa used his finger in the pocket of his coat to suggest he had a firearm during the robbery, the amount of money stolen in the heist and that he intended to rob the Parkvale Bank in Chalk Hill and had enlisted the informant’s help in doing so, Veitch said.
On Jan. 10, the informant picked Hoffa up at his home and drove to the bank in Chalk Hill, where law enforcement then took him into custody, the complaint stated.
The FBI also put a tracking device on a rental car the informant drove that day.
Hoffa acknowledged in an FBI interview that he paid a “crackhead” to steal the license plate he put on the car that day.
At a press conference following Hoffa’s arrest earlier this year, David N. Hedges, special agent for the FBI, said investigators believe Hoffa might have links to several other robberies in the region and said authorities would continue their investigations, however additional charges have not been filed.
Federal public defender Marketa Sims said Hoffa has told authorities he is the grandson of the former Teamster leader’s brother. However, Sims and investigators have not confirmed the family ties to Jimmy Hoffa, the famous labor leader who disappeared in July 1975 outside a restaurant in suburban Detroit.
Sims had argued prior to sentencing that Hoffa’s health should play a more prominent role in determining his sentence, noting that he suffers from end-stage liver disease and suffers from alcohol and drug addictions and mental disorders.