Criminal says he robbed bank to go back to prison

Kevin Penzes wasn’t looking for money when he brought a holdup note into a bank here last week.

Life on the outside had become too much for the 37-year-old Kingston man with a long criminal history, and he was doing what he had to do to get back into prison.

As he told the bank teller, he was “going back to RTC,” Corrections Canada’s regional treatment centre near Bath.

He got his wish on Friday, when Justice Allan Letourneau sentenced him to four years in prison.

Letourneau tried several times to slow things down, urging the defendant to reconsider or to seek his own lawyer.

But Penzes, whose “13-year federal record” includes a couple of armed robbery convictions, was not to be denied.

“I’m guilty as hell,” he told the court.

Court heard Penzes walked into the bank branch on Princess Street at about 1 p.m. Tuesday and handed a note to a teller that said: “$6,000. I need it now. All $100 bills. Don’t contact police or I’m hurting people.” No weapon was displayed or mentioned to the teller.

The teller handed over an undisclosed amount of cash, and Penzes took off.

Kingston police quickly identified him from surveillance video and he was found at about 6:25 p.m. Most of the stolen money was recovered and he immediately confessed.

Assistant Crown attorney John Skoropada said Ontario Legal Aid lawyer Patricia Knox-Leet had canvassed Penzes about the fouryear sentence being recommended and he was “good with that.”

Penzes later amplified that point, telling the judge, “I was expecting six to eight.”