Man Forced To Mow Lawn At Gunpoint Gets 20-Year Prison Sentence
POSTED: 7:12 p.m. EST February 7, 2004
UPDATED: 1:44 a.m. EST February 11, 2004
OXFORD, Ala. -- A convicted burglar sentenced in Calhoun County to 20 years in prison this week as a repeat offender had an unusual run-in with his victim.
The victim, Richard Bussey, says he drove up to his father's rural residence last summer and found a man loading furniture and other items into a pickup truck.
Bussey held a gun on the would-be thief and ordered him to return the furniture. Bussey didn't have a telephone, so he made 45-year-old Roy Andrew Gendron mow the lawn with a push mower until he could think of a plan to alert authorities.
Bussey ultimately took Gendron's driver's license and turned it in to police.
Assistant District Attorney Brian McVeigh says Gendron had been arrested 19 times and was on parole when Bussey caught him.
At sentencing Tuesday, Circuit Judge Samuel Monk says the case stands out for its comical twist, calling it "one of the better ones."
And McVeigh says if he ever gets in that situation, "I'll try to get some yard work out of the guy."
Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press.
POSTED: 7:12 p.m. EST February 7, 2004
UPDATED: 1:44 a.m. EST February 11, 2004
OXFORD, Ala. -- A convicted burglar sentenced in Calhoun County to 20 years in prison this week as a repeat offender had an unusual run-in with his victim.
The victim, Richard Bussey, says he drove up to his father's rural residence last summer and found a man loading furniture and other items into a pickup truck.
Bussey held a gun on the would-be thief and ordered him to return the furniture. Bussey didn't have a telephone, so he made 45-year-old Roy Andrew Gendron mow the lawn with a push mower until he could think of a plan to alert authorities.
Bussey ultimately took Gendron's driver's license and turned it in to police.
Assistant District Attorney Brian McVeigh says Gendron had been arrested 19 times and was on parole when Bussey caught him.
At sentencing Tuesday, Circuit Judge Samuel Monk says the case stands out for its comical twist, calling it "one of the better ones."
And McVeigh says if he ever gets in that situation, "I'll try to get some yard work out of the guy."
Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press.
