Ex-deputy gets 7½ years for Chesapeake robbery

CHESAPEAKE

Decorated deputy. "Wonderful" father and family man.

Bank robber.

"Unusual case."

All of that figured into the case of Preston R. Walcker. On Thursday, the former sheriff's homicide detective from Everett, Wash., was sentenced to 7-1/2 years in prison for robbing a Greenbrier bank on May 12.

Walcker, 44, faces trials for two other bank robberies in Virginia Beach and sentencing for his November guilty plea to a fourth one in Hanover County.

All the robberies occurred within a month in April and May. Walcker lost his 12-year law-enforcement career over a painkiller addiction after a job-related injury. He and family members Thursday blamed at least the Chesapeake robbery in part on his continued addiction and money pressures from a divorce.

But Walcker apologized to Judge Randall D. Smith and repeatedly said he made no excuses for his behavior.

"To think that I crossed that line and did what I did, it absolutely shocks me," he testified.

He pleaded guilty in September to robbing the Old Point National Bank branch on Eden Way North of $1,788. A teller said Walcker threatened that he had a gun; Walcker denied that, and no gun was found.

His mother and a sister pleaded with the judge to be lenient.

"I'm asking that you please look into his productive life, before he was addicted to painkillers," said his mother, Eunice Hoff.

"I believe Preston is not society's problem," his sister, Shari Miles, said. "I believe addiction is."

Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney D.J. Hansen reminded the court that lots of people with money problems don't rob banks.

Judge Smith said Walcker's background cut both ways: his good law-enforcement service also meant he had more reason to know the harm he'd cause. His sentence exceeded the minimum suggested by state guidelines but was less than what Hansen asked for. Virginia law punishes robbery with five years to life in prison.

"He's a man who deserves redemption," said Walcker's attorney, Deputy Public Defender A. Robinson Winn.

Matthew Bowers, (757) 222-5221, matthew.bowers@pilotonline.com