GASTONIA, N.C. — A bank-robbery suspect whom authorities accused of scaring an elderly woman to death after hiding in her home was sentenced to life in prison.
Larry Whitfield of Charlotte was sentenced Wednesday in federal court, authorities said. Whitfield, 22, had been convicted of attempted bank robbery, weapons offenses, and seeking to avoid arrest for attempted bank robbery.
Prosecutors said Whitfield and another man tried to rob a Gastonia credit union in September 2009. They said Whitfield forced his way into the home of Mary Parnell, 79, to elude police.
