Here’s why a bank robber reportedly asked a judge for “the maximum” during sentencing

MIAMI, Fla. (Gray News) – A Florida serial bank robber pleaded with a judge for the harshest prison sentence possible, according to Miami Herald.

Terry Meach, 43, pleaded guilty to two counts of bank robbery and one count of attempted bank robbery earlier this year, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a press release.

The Miami Herald reported that Meach asked the judge to consider giving him the maximum amount of time so he can “get his life back to normal” in a “controlled environment.”

Meach told the judge if he was released from prison he would continue to rob banks, the Herald reported.

Meach admitted to demanding money from a Truist bank in Hollywood, Florida on February 23, 2024, and claimed to have a gun. The teller complied and gave her $2,419.

Four days later, he approached a teller at a Fifth Third Bank in Fort Lauderdale and said things like “give me the money, I’ve got a bomb.”

According to a news release, the teller backed up and Meach fled without money but went to a Truist bank about 100 yards down the street. He got away with $2,379 from that bank.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that before he robbed the banks in February, Meach was convicted of robbing or attempting to rob four other banks charged in two separate federal cases.

Eight days after he was released from prison for his first conviction, he robbed two banks again. He was convicted and sentenced to prison for those robberies as well. Meach had most recently been released from prison on February 9, 2024.

Two weeks later, Meach committed the first of the robberies for which he was convicted in the case, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.