A Billings man who helped his roommate commit three armed robberies in one day to raise cash for rent was sentenced Tuesday in District Court.
Jonathan Michael Witham, 21, was sentenced by Judge Russell Fagg to eight years with the state Department of Corrections, with four years suspended, for felony robbery by accountability. Fagg agreed to recommend Witham for a state boot camp program, and he dismissed two other felony robbery by accountability charges in accordance with a plea agreement.
Fagg rejected a request by Witham’s attorney for a deferred sentence, saying the crime was too serious and showed a “total lack of any fundamental common sense” by Witham.
Defense attorney Marv McCann said his client deserved the more lenient sentence because Witham has no prior criminal record and is a member of the Army National Guard.
Witham briefly apologized for his “profound stupidity” before he was sentenced.
Witham and his roommate Seth Michael Goodell, were charged in January with robbing a pizza delivery driver at gunpoint and two other failed armed robberies of separate convenience stores on the same day.
Goodell, 21, pleaded guilty in March to a single count of felony robbery and was sentenced to 10 years at Montana State Prison. He also received a recommendation to participate in the state boot camp program.
After their arrest, Witham told investigators he was aware that Goodell was armed with a handgun and that he made the call to the pizza restaurant to set up the robbery of the delivery driver. After that robbery, Goodell tried to rob two convenience stores but failed at those attempts.
Witham said the robberies were committed, in part, by the men’s “need to make rent,” prosecutors said in court records.
